Ways to Love, Jean Rhys, Ford Madox Ford, Stella Bowen Paris The affair between Jean Rhys and Ford Madox Ford in 1925/6 was a significant literary event, sparking four competing narratives from the people involved. More True History of the Kelly Gang, Peter Carey Beechworth Victoria An outlaw tale about Ned Kelly, charismatic hero, or vicious murderer, a figure who became part of Australia's national identy. More No Place for a Girl, Daphne du Maurier, Bodmin Moor A gripping tale about a fiesty woman, wild men and dark secrets set on the Cornish moors, Jamaica Inn became du Maurier’s first bestseller. More Astonishing with Apples, Paul Cézanne Aix-en-Provence ‘With an apple I will astonish Paris’, which is precisely what Cèzanne did, producing works of genius in his final years from his studio in Aix. More Dracula, Bram Stoker Whitby In 1897 Stoker revived a Gothic tradition, producing one of the most powerful horror tales ever written. His time in Whitby was pivotal for his book’s creation. More Trouble on the Marsh, Rudyard Kipling Romney Marsh How Kipling found inspiration for his Puck of Pook’s Hill stories that capture the myth and mystery of the wild, watery landscapes near his home. More An Eternal Summer, DH Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield, Zennor Cornwall In 1916 modernist writers DH Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield and their partners had a brief experiment in communal living that became the inspiration for Lawrence’s Women in Love. More Other Worlds, Dame Nellie Melba and Oscar Wilde, Savoy Hotel London Two of the greatest performers of their time had an unlikely friendship, and crossed paths in London and Paris at key points in their lives. More The Geniuses, Gertrude Stein, Picasso and Matisse 27 rue de Fleurus, Paris Gertrude Stein's Parisian salon was a crucible for the modernist genius of Picasso and Matisse, inspiring her own modernist writing. More Gazing Inward, Michel de Montaigne, Saint-Michel-de-Montaigne, France Montaigne's near death experience in mid life changed his thinking and altered the course of his life, giving rise to his brilliant essays. More Sylvia’s Lovers, Elizabeth Gaskell Whitby A powerful historical novel about love, loss and hardship, set on the Yorkshire coast, by a writer who lived her life to the full. More The Inseparables, Paul Cézanne and Émile Zola, Aix-en-Provence The bond between schoolfriends Cézanne and Zola and their wild adventures in the land of Provence, had a profound impact on their work. More Scenes at the Fair, Thomas Hardy Dorset The story behind Thomas Hardy’s masterpiece The Mayor of Casterbridge. More A Perfectly Good Man, Patrick Gale Pendeen A sensitive story about a priest and his family struggling with death, love, spirituality and relationships in a remote Cornish community. More Republic of Two, Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield Kew Gardens A story of friendship and rivalry between two highly creative women, united by their desire to create new writerly forms. More Lost and Found, David Bowie Berlin Seventies Berlin is where Bowie found his way again, personally and musically, during one of the most fruitful periods of his life. More Man of Appetites, Alexandre Dumas Roscoff One of the great gastronomes of the nineteenth century began his dictionary of cuisine, in Roscoff, a seaside town of Brittany. More Brighton Rock, Graham Greene Brighton A story about a boy gangster seething with rage and obsessed with hell and damnation, Brighton Rock remains chilling to this day. More A Turning Point, Simone de Beauvoir Marseille After suffering a crisis in her twenties, Beauvoir restored her equilibrium in this city by the sea. More Travels with a Donkey, Robert Louis Stevenson Cèvennes A travel tale threaded with longing for a woman Stevenson was not sure he would ever meet again. More A Late Flowering, Edith Wharton Hyeres With formidable energy, Wharton created a retreat in the south of France that lent warmth and beauty to her happy old age. More Messing About in Boats, Kenneth Grahame Fowey Cornwall The Wind in the Willows was written by a man wounded by loss and beguiled by a river. More A Real Home, Jane Austen’s Chawton Chawton Hampshire Chawton Cottage was Jane Austen’s last home before she died. It is where her genius flourished and her brilliant career was launched. More Close Encounters, Maar and Picasso Paris Known as Picasso’s ‘weeping woman’, Dora Maar was a significant artist. Her masochistic game at a cafe lit a dangerous fire. More A Thousand Bells, Colin McPhee Bali Enchanted by the music of the gamelan, in the 1930s composer Colin Mcphee spent seven years in Bali, the most creative period of his life. More Winter, Ali Smith Cornwall, England Book two of a seasonal quartet, a wintry tale that interweaves extraordinary current events with art, literature and history. More The Self-Unseeing, Thomas Hardy Bockhampton Dorset Hardy’s childhood in Bockhampton helped shape him into one of the world’s most renowned poets and novelists. More A Tale of Two Ravens, Dickens and Poe London England Charles Dickens's pet ravens inspired both his own work and later Poe's poetic masterpiece, 'The Raven'. More The Man Who Loved Children, Christina Stead Watsons Bay Sydney One of the great novels of the twentieth century is based on Christina Stead's monstrous father and disturbed childhood More A Dark, Diabolic Beauty, Daphne du Maurier, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall A perilous misadventure on Bodmin Moor inspired Daphne du Maurier’s bestselling novel Jamaica Inn. More The Charming Monster, Francoise Sagan Saint-Tropez In 1954 Francoise Sagan’s debut novel, written at eighteen, changed the zeitgeist and launched her on a life of prolific writing, fame and in her words ‘frenzied debauchery’. More Monet’s Garden Giverny Claude Monet had two passions: for nature and for painting. At his house in Giverny they crystallised to create the landscapes for which he is world famous. More A Suitable Place for a Murder, Agatha Christie, Greenway House Devon Greenway was Agatha Christie's country home, where she could be herself, away from prying eyes. It also served as the setting for her novel Dead Man's Folly. More On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan Chesil Beach Dorset In the summer of 1962, two young innocents arrive on the Dorset coast for their honeymoon. What happens will haunt them for the rest of their lives. More The Revolutionists, Vanessa and Virginia Stephen London England Number 22 Hyde Park Gate in London’s Kensington was the birthplace of the Stephen sisters, Vanessa (Bell) and Virginia (Woolf), two extraordinary women and pioneering artists. More A Madder Caress, Vita Sackville-West and Violet Trefusis Polperro In 1918, writers Vita Sackville-West and Violet Trefusis ran away to Cornwall together to begin one of the most sizzling affairs in literary history. More One True Sentence, Ernest Hemingway Paris France Hemingway’s literary career was forged in 1920s Paris, where he worked hard and soaked up the experiences and influences he needed to become a great writer. More The Freedom I Desired, Daphne du Maurier Bodinnick Cornwall From the moment she saw Fowey Harbour, Daphne du Maurier fell in love with Cornwall. It became the focus for much of her writing. More Valley of the Diamond Dust, Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee Slad Gloucestershire A bewitching memoir set in the Cotswolds recording the timeless events of a village on the cusp of change. More Louisa’s Fall, Jane Austen Lyme Regis The most dramatic incident in any of Jane Austen’s novels occurs in Persuasion, in Dorset's picturesque coastal town. More Cornwall: A Literary Introduction Cornwall, England A look at some of the writers who have been inspired by the landscape of England's far south western corner. More A Place for Grief, a Place for Love Katherine Mansfield, Bandol France The time Katherine Mansfield spent in Bandol provided respite, healing, happiness and a breakthrough in her writing. More Why go to Saint-Juliot? Thomas Hardy Meets Emma Gifford St Juliot Cornwall As a trainee architect, Thomas Hardy travelled to remote north-west Cornwall, and fell in love with the woman he met there, Emma Gifford. More Colin Thiele’s Storm Boy Coorong National Park South Australia A wild, windswept place, a boy and a pelican in a story that has become a rite of passage for generations of Australian children. More Honoré de Balzac: The Optical Gastronomer Marais Paris While learning his craft in a garret Balzac soaked up Paris and its people on nocturnal wanderings he called 'optical gastronomy'. More Growing Pains, Daphne du Maurier London England On the surface, Daphne du Maurier’s childhood and adolescence appear charmed. Yet conflicts about her sexuality, parental relationships, and shyness often left her feeling lost and confused. More Summer’s Breath, Shakespeare’s Birthplace Stratford-upon-Avon For all its brilliance and risk taking, Shakespeare's language bears the unmistakable stamp of a Midlands country boy. More A Lake, a Moon, a Sword, Morte d’Arthur, Alfred Lord Tennyson Dozmary Pool, Cornwall On the moors of Cornwall lies a lake steeped in myth, with links to Arthurian legend. More A New Chapter, Nancy Mitford at Heywood Hill Bookshop 10 Curzon Street Mayfair London The Second World War changed Nancy Mitford’s life. She worked for Heywood Hill in his Mayfair bookshop, fell in love, and wrote her first bestseller. More Poldark, Mad Mike and Pilchards, Winston Graham Penberth Cove, Cornwall How I came to be scrambling over a set from the Poldark series just before dawn. More Donizetti’s Furtive Tear, Bergamo, Italy Bergamo Italy A rags to riches story set in the Lombardy town of Bergamo More T.E. Lawrence’s Clouds Hill Clouds Hill Dorset After his Arab campaign, the widely celebrated TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) chose to live anonymously, and poured his heart into creating an unusual and humble home in Dorset. More He Left In Autumn Keats House, Hampsted ‘Mr Keats left Hampstead’. Those are the words Fanny Brawne wrote in her pocket book the day Keats set out from London for Rome. More The Land of a Million Rice Fields, Yuan Phai, Tale of Lanna Chiang Mai Thailand This epic 15th century war poem describes the defeat of the ancient Lanna Kingdom of the north by the might of the Siamese army More Year of Plague, Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks Eyam Based on the true story of the bubonic plague that struck the village of Eyam, this novel is about one woman’s journey through a year of unspeakable pain and loss. More
