Gransnet forums

Competitions

Win a copy of Chris Paling's new book, Reading Allowed **NOW CLOSED**

(81 Posts)
LauraGransnet (GNHQ) Mon 06-Feb-17 16:30:02

Following last week's guest post about local libraries by author Chris Paling, we'd love to hear about the books that feature your local area.

Is it a Brontë masterpiece set on the moors of Yorkshire or a recent debut telling the story of a widow in a quiet Essex village? Well-known or obscure, we want to know!

Tell us the name of your town or city and the name of the book (or books) in which it's featured for a chance to win Chris' book Reading Allowed: True Stories and Curious Incidents from a Provincial Library.

Competition closes Monday 20 February.

For more on all things local, visit your Gransnet Local site.

Treebee Sat 11-Feb-17 21:32:35

There are many books featuring my home town of Bletchley due to the role of Bletchley Park in World War Two.
The one book I'd mention is The Secret Life of Bletchley Park by Sinclair McKay as it looks at the lives of those who worked there. What I find fascinating is the pressures they were under living in this secret community, not able to tell friends and family and those who they lived with what they were working on.
The book even goes into the food they ate and their leisure pastimes; fascinating.
We owe these people so much.

Philp17 Sat 11-Feb-17 18:09:45

Howard's End by EM Forster is based on his childhood home in Stevenage. The house is called Rooks Nest and is in a quiet lane, away from the bustle of the new town. When a film was made of the novel, the original was deemed too small so a house in Berkshire was used.

Annie29 Sat 11-Feb-17 17:31:04

A Song For Issy Bradley by Carys Bray. This book features Southport and talks about the bumpy coastal road,which is still very bumpy.

imacmum Sat 11-Feb-17 17:17:22

Resistance is Futile by Jenny Colgan, I live in Ipswich and the book is set in Cambridge, Ipswich and Felixstowe, not her usual subject but loved it anyway!

lynnalex Sat 11-Feb-17 15:31:05

Stoke on Trent Arnold Bennett Anna of the five towns and Clayhanger are set in Stoke among others he wrote.

Sheilasue Sat 11-Feb-17 14:51:39

I live in the borough of Greenwich, there are many history books on Greenwich, there is the stories of Nelson and so many others, king Henry etc.

Lotie Sat 11-Feb-17 14:35:20

I live in Swindon which features in Mark Haddon's 'The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime'.

gillyknits Sat 11-Feb-17 14:01:20

I live near Thirsk so it would have to be the James Herriot books All Creatures Great and Small.

dorojk432113 Sat 11-Feb-17 13:27:15

My village of Combe Florey appears in the Domesday Book! And no doubt influenced in some way the writings of Evelyn Waugh, Auberon Waugh and his children Daisy and Alexander, all of whom lived in Combe Florey

Linbrikat Sat 11-Feb-17 13:26:44

I just picked up a book to start reading yesterday that hubby bought recently in a charity shop. He only ever buys science-fiction so I was amazed to see Stoke Newington High Street mentioned in the second chapter. I was born and brought up there many moons ago. The book is called Planesrunner and it's about 'a multiplicity of universes in parallel dimensions'. The author is Ian McDonald.

Diggingdoris Sat 11-Feb-17 12:53:52

Hello MadGrandma, I'm in Colchester area as well so you may like Elizabeth Jeffries novels set in the villages around us. The author lives in Wivenhoe and the stories are period set so you learn about the crafts and trades of the past.

shysal Sat 11-Feb-17 12:33:16

No shortage of books set in my home city of Oxford. Some years ago I read a set of about 20 novels by Veronica Stallwood about Kate Ivory, a historian/writer turned amateur sleuth, written between 1990 and 2011. I believe the most popular volume is the one called Death and the Oxford Box.

Playermojo007 Sat 11-Feb-17 12:28:40

John Nicholson writes a crime series about Nik Guymer based in TEESSIDE and North of Yorkshire the first in tge series is called Teesside Steal which is very apt with what has been ongoing in Teesside and my husband being a redundant steel worker.

BBbevan Sat 11-Feb-17 11:33:46

As a young child I lived near Senghenydd in the Aber valley. I always thought ' How green was my Valley' was set in a similar valley. And they had a catastrophic mine disaster too.

Funnygran Sat 11-Feb-17 10:51:28

The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher is set in my home city of Sheffield.

MadGrandma Sat 11-Feb-17 10:46:57

We are in Colchester and there are quite a few books which are sited here. The series I most enjoyed is by Tania Carver - "Brennan and Esposito" - set in a variety of locations around the town - a series of murder/thriller mysteries which are fairly true to their locations. The other which I am currently reading is "historical" set in the early 1980's - "Blackwater" by James Henry (the man who wrote several Inspector Frost books.
Both authors are highly recommended if you like mysteries.
On the other hand if you like a bit of humour and time travel - try Jodi Taylor's "Chronicles of St Mary's" series. One of those - "Christmas Present" a short novella, features the location of Roman Colchester in AD60!

blueberry1 Sat 11-Feb-17 10:44:11

Annie Murray's books are set in Birmingham,many of them during WW2.I love reading them and placing the areas she mentions in the Birmingham of today.

librarylady Sat 11-Feb-17 10:39:01

Well unsure I should mention this one as I was unaware of the accusations leveled against the author but the very small Cheshire village (Bickerton) where I grew up is mentioned in The Forests of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

Irenelily Sat 11-Feb-17 10:28:19

The lighthearted detective series by Lesley Cookman feature the Thanet area and Canterbury area all about a family descended from Kent hop pickers with a couple of amateur sleuths and an interesting police detective. Got them on Kindle and have read them twice! Once haphazardly and once in order!

lindarumsey Sat 11-Feb-17 10:21:17

The Mildenhall Treasure by Roald Dahl - I really must read it soon!

keriku Sat 11-Feb-17 10:05:33

We live in Cowdenbeath which has featured in several of the Rebus books. Ian Rankin went to Beath High and was actually in the same class as my husband. He often uses Fife in his books!

oldperson Fri 10-Feb-17 10:55:51

I live in Nottingham. Alan Sillitoe's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning features many places in Nottingham that I remember which have now been demolished. D.H.Lawrence's books feature Nottingham and other places in the county. Narrow Marsh by A.R.Dance is a tale about Nottingham around the time of the Luddite riots - a very interesting book and I am now reading the sequel Leen Times.

lexigran Thu 09-Feb-17 16:03:06

I live very near to Pin Mill , Suffolk which features in " We didn't mean to go to Sea " by Arthur Ransome

Nandalot Thu 09-Feb-17 13:04:04

Maitland.. No k

Nandalot Thu 09-Feb-17 13:03:22

I live near Lincoln.The Vanishing Witch by Karen Maitkand is set in 1390s Lincoln and you can still walk round the city in your mind's eye as she describes the events of the novel.