USA, England, France: these are just a few of the places that have been home to numerous writers over the centuries! They’re now great places to travel to if you’re looking to bring life to your favourite stories and fully indulge the literary culture.
Now let’s get ready for a literary tour around the world!
ENGLAND
Derbyshire, East Midlands – Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Chatsworth house was used as Pemberley; Mr. Darcy’s estate. Derbyshire also inspired Lambton and Kympton!
London – Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
London is often portrayed as a dirty, ugly and crooked city. It was set during the Industrial Revolution, so we don’t blame him…
Whitby, Yorkshire – Dracula by Bram Stoker
The seaside town of Whitby inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula. It has maintained it’s gothic roots; they celebrate Goth Weekends twice a year and the annual Bram Stoker Film Festival on October.
Haworth, Yorkshire – Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Home of the author during the early 19th century and the Yorkshire landscapes are inprinted in her work.
Stratford-upon-Avon, West Midlands – William Shakespeare‘s birthplace
Visit Anne Hathaways’ cottage (William Shakespeare’s wife, not the Oscar winning actress!) for a full Shakespeare experience.
Oxford – His Dark Materials by
One of the characters studied in “Jordan College”, an exaggerated version of Exeter College.
The city is also home to big authors like C.S. Lewis, Oscar Wilder, Lewis Carroll and W.H. Auden! There’s no college, pub or library that’s not haunted by literary “celebrities”.
SCOTLAND
Inverness, Highland – Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Thanks to the success of the books and TV series, there are a lot of day tours that can take you to some of the beautiful places depicted in the book and show. Most of them visit lovely locations like Culloden, Clava Cairns, Clootie Well, Castle Leoch, Strathpeffer, Fraser lands and many others!
Edinburgh – Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
J.K. Rowling wrote most of the Harry Potter series in Edinburgh (specifically, at “The Elephant House” café). Most fans love the Hogwarts-like Edinburgh Castle and finding familiar names on tombstones at Greyfriars Kirkyard.
The city is also world’s first UNESCO city of Literature and birthplace of famous authors like Arthur Conan Doyle, Muriel Spark and Robert Louis Stevenson.
Orkney Islands – Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
In Chapter 19, Victor Frankenstein travels to England and Scotland and ends up staying at a remote island in the Orkneys. He undertakes his second experiment here!
IRELAND
Dublin – Ulysses by James Joyce
James Joyce’s work is so beloved by fans around the world that they even celebrate it on Bloomsday, June 16; it’s the same date that the protagonist of Ulysses, Stephen Dedalus, set out into Dublin in 1904.
The book features lots of locations in Dublin such as Martello Tower, Clifton School, Sandymount Strand, Princes street, Glasnevin Cemetery, National Library of Ireland, Grafton street, Ormond hotel and Little Britain street.
USA
New York City – The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
New York City is a huge part of the novel; the protagonist fully experiences alienation and is unable to meet new people in the busiest city in the world. Some of the locations that are featured in the book are Penn Station, Radio City, The Edmont Hotel (a fictional building on 34th and Eighth Ave., just like the New Yorker Hotel!), The Wicker Bar (located in the Seton Hotel), Central Park’s south pond, Ernie’s (a bar in Greenwich Village) and his apartment on the 71st (between E 71st and Fifth Avenue).
Denali National Park, Alaska – Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Although the book is more about rediscovering and reinventing himself, his trip from Alask to Denali National Park is extraordinary. McCandles also planned to go through the Stampede trail!
San Fransisco, California – On the Road by Jack Kerouac
The book is broken into five road trips, but the first four are the most extended ones. The first trip starts from New York to San Francisco through Denver; the second trip goes from Rocky Mount to San Francisco by going through New Orleans; the third from Denver to New York by San Francisco and lastly, from New York to Mexico by Denver.
FRANCE
Rouen – Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The capital of Normandy is Flaubert’s birthplace and is where most of Madame Bovary is set.
Marseille – The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The story begins in the French seaside town of Marseilles; it’s Edmond Dantès’ hometown and home of his soulmate, Mercédès.
