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Original poster

books where a character goes to seaside for their health

33 replies

IslaMann · 07/09/2014 12:51

odd question I know, but am currently writing an assignment for my OU course, and have had a mental block on any novels in which one of the characters are sent to the seaside to recuperate, or to "take the air". Any examples will be gratefully received!

OP posts:
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alphabill · 21/10/2014 21:21

Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens

MrsHowardRoark · 21/10/2014 21:13

We The Living by Ayn Rand
Set during the Russian revolution and a number of characters are send to the Crimea to recuperate.
A nice obscure one for you Grin

TheWhisperingDeath · 21/10/2014 21:09

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

riverboat1 · 15/10/2014 07:54

In The Painted Garden (Noel Streatfield) don't the whole family move from London to California for the dad's health? I think it's implied he's suffering from depression and needs sunshine and a warm climate.

I see there are quite a few other Steeatfield titles on here too, she seems to like this trope!

tobeabat · 14/10/2014 14:18

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aoife24 · 13/10/2014 22:51

Vanity Fair if I remember correctly.

TwoAndTwoEqualsChaos · 30/09/2014 13:35

In The Diary of a Provincial Lady or, possibly, the first sequel the eponymous heroine is sent to the seaside for several weeks after a nasty bout of 'flu. I was also going to say Louisa Musgrove. Pretty certain some of Angela Thirkell's characters do it but can't pin down a specific book in a hurry!.

Welshwabbit · 26/09/2014 23:55

plumnc I think the Poirot is Evil Under the Sun. And Miss Marple goes to the Caribbean for the good of her health in A Caribbean Mystery, but that's not quite the same thing...

StillSquirrelling · 22/09/2014 20:57

A little late but don't the Famous Five (and many other EB characters) always get sent to the seaside to recuperate from measles/pneumonia/pleurisy etc all the time? If it's not the seaside they are going to, it's usually a remote farmhouse in Wales where they eat their entire bodyweight in food for breakfast because the 'air' makes them so hungry Hmm

IDoAllMyOwnStunts · 22/09/2014 20:50

Benefits of sea air mentioned in Remarkable Creatures by Tracey Chevalier, set in Lyme Regis. Also in The Electric Michaelangelo which is set partially in Morecombe if those are any good.

Maestro · 10/09/2014 22:35

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BaconAndAvocado · 10/09/2014 22:32

The Crimson Petal and the White, bloody marvellous book Smile

ancientbuchanan · 10/09/2014 00:11

No squirrelsGrin

NoSquirrels · 09/09/2014 23:40

Dracula (Whitby)

Wasn't too great for Lucy's health in the end, mind...

ancientbuchanan · 09/09/2014 23:35

Instead, Clara had to go to the baths at Ragatz.

Mrs Braddon sends her folk to the seaside, but sometimes to hide their evil natures and background.

Jane Austin of course inverts it, poor Fanny in Mansfield Park is sent to the sea, but a working town, Portsmouth, where she is miserable. For her, she escapes the sea at the beginning and towards the end of the novel. Evil things happen near the sea, her awful family, a near escape from the wretched Henry. For her the ordered countryside is safety and peace and Edmund. Similarly, Louisa nearly dies at the seaside at Lyme in Persuasion. We don't know how Sanditon would have ended, presumably happily, but the picture of it is not happy. Isn't Georgiana Darcy nearly seduced at the sea side ? Or is that my imagination?

There is a whole literature of the eviltude of watering holes!

BasketzatDawn · 08/09/2014 00:31

German lit of the 19th century has lots of characters going to the sea or else a spa for their health. The Prussians did like that kind of thing.

I imagine in Heidi, if they hadn't been in land-locked and mountainous Switzerland, poorly Klara would have been sent to the sea.

I know you've finished, OP, but it is a fascinating subject.[smile

Laundryangel · 08/09/2014 00:21

In a lot of the Chalet School books, if they can't get to the mountains for the air then they go to the seaside.
Don't they do it in Ballet Shoes too? Possibly White Boots as well.

Original poster
IslaMann · 08/09/2014 00:14

All over for me now Qcumber. I submitted earlier, glad to see the back of this module. Was registered on A105 next, but have changed to two 30 credit modules as can't bear the thought of another 60 pointer like this one!

OP posts:
QisforQcumber · 07/09/2014 19:47

I am regretting it in all honestly Isla! I was 750 words in before I realised I am woefully under prepared to tackle a philosophy question.

Thursday and it will all be over Wine

Original poster
IslaMann · 07/09/2014 18:03

Qcumber, it's the EMA for AA100. I've avoided all philosophy since the Plato question, hate the subject! Good luck with yours.

OP posts:
QisforQcumber · 07/09/2014 16:21

Isla is it TMA 07? If so, we are working on the same assignment but I am going down the philosophy route. Good luck

plumnc · 07/09/2014 14:58

How intellectual do you need to be?
I'm sure Hercule Poirot goes to the seaside for healt at least once - can't remember whuch book though

NotAnotherPackedLunchBox · 07/09/2014 14:54

More Jane Austen - In Emma her sister and family go to the seaside for their health

hackmum · 07/09/2014 14:45

Here you go:

"Oh yes! I am quite convinced that, with very few exceptions, the sea-air always does good. There can be no doubt of its having been of the greatest service to Dr. Shirley, after his illness, last spring twelvemonth. He declares himself, that coming to Lyme for a month did him more good than all the medicine he took; and that being by the sea always makes him feel young again."

www.pemberley.com/etext/Persuasion/chapter12.htm

hackmum · 07/09/2014 14:40

That is such a good question - I must have read dozens of books where this happens. Now of course I can't remember any of them.

Maybe Jane Austen? You know in Persuasion where they go to Lyme Regis - is one of the characters there to recuperate/take the air?