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Books set in Yorkshire/Yorkshire Dales

28 replies

Allsortsmakesnormal · 20/08/2023 22:55

Currently on holiday here and it's really captured my imagination. Looking for some recommendations for books set in this area please.

OP posts:
whiteroseredrose · 20/08/2023 23:48

It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet series by James Herriot?

CutTheBSJustGiveMeCake · 20/08/2023 23:54

Any of the James Herriot books

A Dark Quartet by Lynne Reid Banks

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Dracula

Allsortsmakesnormal · 21/08/2023 07:35

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm a RVN so the James Herriot books have been read to death from an early age! Jane Eyre is one of my absolute favourite books. I'll look up the other suggestion.

OP posts:
Thatbloomindog · 21/08/2023 07:39

Over Hill and Dale - by Gervais Finn

its basically a similar vibe to all creatures great and small books. But set in the 1980’s and about a school inspector. There are several in the series. They are laugh out loud funny say times

YorkshireTeaCup · 21/08/2023 07:46

If you are anywhere near Thirsk there is a lovely bookshop called White Rose Books that does local author readings / signings etc. I bet there are some great local reads in there. If you are near Ripon, i imagine there is one similar there too but i dont know Ripon well enough off the top of my head.

whoami24601 · 21/08/2023 07:47

Peter Robinson writes a very good crime series set around the Dales. Inspector Alan Banks. He's a prolific writer so you'll have lots to keep you busy for a while.

ThelmaDinkley · 21/08/2023 07:49

Wuthering Heights. Yorkshire Shepherdess.

JaninaDuszejko · 21/08/2023 13:11

Sylvia's Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell, Dracula by Bram Stoker, and Possession by A S Byatt for Whitby. That's North York Moors rather than the Dales but Herriot was based in Thirsk so the Vale of York rather than the Dales.

The Brontes are further south but agree with Gervais Finn, his books seemto be everywhere.

To add to the list of independent bookshops there's Castle Hill Bookshop in Richmond. Richmond is well worth a visit, there's an EH castle and abbey with a nice walk between them and the fabulous Georgian Theatre which you can get a tour around.

Welcome to The Georgian Theatre Royal

https://www.georgiantheatreroyal.co.uk/

JaninaDuszejko · 21/08/2023 13:26

Oh, thought of more.

A Month in the Country by JL Carr
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson is set in York
Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens (although Barnard Castle claim the school is based on one there so on the border with Co Durham).
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
South Riding by Winifred Holtby (mostly not set in the Dales but read this anyway becduse it's brilliant)
An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Yorkshire is responsible for a lot of good books!

Allsortsmakesnormal · 21/08/2023 17:34

@JaninaDuszejko Thank you! What a fantastic list! We visited Richmond on Saturday briefly but will be going back. We're here for the week then heading to Whitby and York for a few days next week and will be visiting Thirsk on the way so plan on visiting as many bookshops as possible.

OP posts:
Lessstressedhemum · 21/08/2023 18:24

The DI Oldroyd books. I can't remember any titles offhand but they are good.

Lessstressedhemum · 21/08/2023 18:26

Almost forgot.
If you like historical mysteries, the Owen Archer books are set in 11th century York.

TranquilityofSolitude · 21/08/2023 18:44

Linda Green's books are set in West Yorkshire, I think. Great stories, anyway!

Meceme · 21/08/2023 18:45

C J Sansom's Matthew Shardlake Tudor mystery 'Sovereign' is a fabulous book set in York.
The whole Shardlake series is good in its own right but thats the only one set in York.
Peter Robinson is good, straightforward police procedural but good plotting.

JaninaDuszejko · 21/08/2023 18:45

Oh, York has lots of independents plus a decent sized Waterstones. You'll find lots to buy there.

In Whitby park at the EH carpark at the Abbey rather than one of the town carparks. Then you can easily visit the graveyard of the church next to the Abbey where Dracula first appeared (church is worth popping into to see the old box pews) and go down the 99 steps into the town. You'll have a good view of the entrance to the harbour where the boat comes in (based on a true story!) from the graveyard.

There's a James Herriot museum in Thirsk which you might enjoy. You should also go and visit Castle Howard and pretend you are in Brideshead Revisited.

Enjoy your holiday, Nurth Yorkshyre is very beautiful.

JaneyGee · 22/08/2023 14:31

Love this thread, and love the recommendations.

If you like poetry, try Ted Hughes, possibly the greatest British poet since W H Auden (though some might argue for Larkin or Geoffrey Hill). Hughes’ nature poems include some gorgeous descriptions of the Yorkshire landscape. He also released a book of poems called ‘Elmet,’ which is set in a wild part of Yorkshire and is accompanied by some beautiful black and white photos of the area.

Didn’t M R James set one of his ghost stories in Yorkshire?

RockyRoadster · 22/08/2023 14:35

Lessstressedhemum · 21/08/2023 18:24

The DI Oldroyd books. I can't remember any titles offhand but they are good.

Author is JR Ellis

NameChangeAng · 22/08/2023 14:38

The Lost Luggage Porter is set in Edwardian York

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is set in York for a little bit

Sovereign is set in York

The Gallows Pole is set in West Yorkshire at the turn of the industrial revolution

Mystery in the Minster is really quirky and set in York

RunAwayTurnAwayRunAwayTurnAway · 22/08/2023 16:03

Death and the Brewery Queen a crime thriller set in a North Ridings pub/brewery chain!

Clawdy · 23/08/2023 08:13

Frances Brody has a series of detective novels set in the Dales.
Someone mentioned An Inspector Calls, but that's a play not a novel.

Gobbledegeek · 23/08/2023 23:22

If you're anywhere close to Malton (which you might be if you're visiting Whitby and York), go to Kemps Bookshop. Malton is lovely and Kemps is great.

Yorkshire books - Matson Taylor's The Misadventures of Evie Epworth is fun and comic but with a lot of heart. It's not a 'serious' Yorkshire book but it captures the fun side of the county quite well. Set in the 60s.

Benjamin Myers' The Offing is set in Robin Hood's Bay (imo loads better than Gallows Pole).

Winnifred Holtby's South Riding

Non- fiction: Madeleine Bunting wrote a really interesting memoir about her relationship with her father and his one acre plot of land near Ampleforth. Called The Plot, naturally!

Have a lovely holiday 😊

elkiedee · 26/08/2023 01:24

Clawdy · 23/08/2023 08:13

Frances Brody has a series of detective novels set in the Dales.
Someone mentioned An Inspector Calls, but that's a play not a novel.

Actually Frances Brody's series of 13 Kate Shackleton books are set in a variety of mostly Yorkshire settings not far from Leeds, in West Yorkshire, in the 1920s. Kate Shackleton lives in Headingley, Leeds, not very far from where I was brought up, and she's in business as an investigator, though the series has the feel of an amateur sleuth series, and she also ends up with some cases that have as much a personal dimension as a professional one. So the series takes us to the small town of Ilkley, and Haworth near Keighley, where the Brontes lived, both north of Bradford in West Yorkshire, the seaside and Harrogate (including a visit to Betty's Tearooms there) in North Yorkshire. There's a mid series book called Death in the Dales.

Scottishlanza · 26/08/2023 01:53

If you want light/chic lit Milly Johnson’s books are set in Yorkshire, mainly Barnsley/Wakefield/Leeds. I realise previous recommendations are more literary but you might want a lighter holiday read. Start with The Yorkshire Pudding Club

alloalloo · 26/08/2023 02:01

Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie books, at least one set in Yorkshire, probably more.

Also I think Trisha Ashley wrote a book about a teashop based in Haworth.

Ladyglittersparkleseriously · 26/08/2023 02:15

Hannah Hauxwell, the Yorkshire shepherdess/ hermit, wrote a few memoirs which are fascinating.

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