Kathy Hamilton Today we’re going to look at the best books set in England (but not London!). Just walking around your bookshop will give you a sense of the breadth of great fiction that is written in England. But for some reason, England is often synonymous with London when it comes to setting. I wanted to challenge that assumption and so I have compiled this list. Let’s take a look:
Let me tell you when I set out to write this post I was a little naïve about just how dominant London is in English fiction. It was going to be simple, or so I thought, to create a list of books that are set elsewhere. Especially when you consider the diversity of the rest of England. From the south coast to the rolling hills of the Midlands and on up to the rugged beauty of the northern countryside. Who wouldn’t be writing books about these places?
*crickets*
As it turns out, there are plenty of these books, once you start looking. I wanted the list I shared with you to be packed full of a sense of England. From its highs to its post-industrial lows. One of the best things about fiction is that it can transport you anywhere you want to go and that’s what I’ve tried to do here.
For anyone who’s ever wondered what England outside of London is like, these books are for you! I’ve done the hard work so you don’t have to. With that said, let’s look at the 10 best books set in England (but not London!)
Persuasion by Jane Austen
If you asked a group of people who’d never set foot in England to describe it, I’m guessing they’d come up with something quite like the peaceful countryside of southern England, where Persuasion by Jane Austen is set. This book splits its action between Somerset, Lyme Regis and Bath as Anne Eliot navigates her relationship with her former love. This a beautiful introduction to the best books set in England.
Persuasion is, for me, a beautiful introduction to the best books set in England. It feels English from the first page. If you can bottle a nationality that is. Also, Jane Austen is basically the go-to author for “Introduction to English Literature 101” isn’t she? I could have suggested all of her novels. But Persuasion stands out in this category because of the variety of locations.
A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines
Now we jump from hazy middle-class England to an industrial mining town known as “The City”. A Kestrel for a Knave is a much-needed reminder that England is not all rolling hills and wealthy people. It follows working-class boy Billy, who finds solace from his frustrating home life by training a kestrel call Kes.
This book feels as relevant to modern readers as it did when it was first published in 1964. It also stands as a reminder how vital novels about working-class lives are. Working-class characters are often relegated to the sidelines, as servants, jaunty companions and often criminals. Barry Hines switches the narrative here and produces a masterpiece.
Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett
Humphry Clinker makes the list for a very specific reason. The snapshot it gives of pre-Victorian England. Charting the journey of Humphry Clinker, who decides to take a grand tour of England this novel by Tobias Smollett is interesting for two reasons. The first: Smollett depicts life in a pre-industrial England that is rapidly changing, both socially (those darn Methodists!) and physically. It’s a fascinating insight into England as it was. The Second: It’s just really zany and funny.
I’m going to take a wild guess and say many of you reading this blog post won’t have heard of Humphry Clinker, or Tobias Smollett. If you have HIGH FIVE! Were you in my 18th Century Literature class? But I think he more than deserves a place on this list. I can think of few novels that offer readers a chance to go on a trip across a whole country.
Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
Our next stop on this list of best books set in England is a rather dismal farm. In Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons readers are treated to a comic account of rural life in the 1930s. The plot follows Flora Poste, an intelligent woman who finds herself with no income, as she goes to live with her country bumpkin cousins in deepest Sussex. What ensues is one of the best-loved rural melodramas in fiction.
I feel like you could dedicate a whole blog post to “hilarious rural comedies of the 1930s”. To me they typify something that goes deep into the heart of the English psyche. We love a good odd-ball comedy…Fawlty Towers anyone? And with Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons readers are treated to one of the best examples of this genre I can think of.
The Things We Thought We Knew by Mahusda Snaith
Set in Leicester in the 1990s, The Things We Thought We Knew by Mahusda Snaith is a novel brimful of twist and turns. Eighteen-year-old Ravine Roy has been confined to her bed for eleven years with a chronic pain syndrome. From here, she describes the council estate where she lives and her life with her mother Rekha who is originally from Bangladesh.
I chose this novel to add to this list of best books set in England because it offers a vital glimpse into multicultural England. Sometimes I think that this is missing from English narratives, which seem to largely focus on “white, middle-class, males.” It’s also, a great book. Snaith’s portrayal of family life on a council estate is honest and refreshing and the added glimpse of magical realism elevates the book.
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
The north, south divide is a well-established rivalry in modern England, but its roots go way back. Elizabeth Gaskell explores this, and more, in her masterpiece, North and South. Which takes proud southerner Elizabeth Hale and plants her firmly in the equally proud North, in the aptly named Milltown. At first, Elizabeth is blinded by her prejudice. She is forced to come face to face with poverty, hard-work and a life in a rapidly industrialising city. A far cry from her bucolic upbringing.
Anyone who is vaguely interested in life in Victorian England should read this book. It explores the emerging industrial age and its impact on the lives of ordinary people. Elizabeth Gaskell is a master at writing with a purpose, and North and South is her masterpiece. If you’re not quite ready to read the book though, alternatively, the T.V. adaption featuring Richard Armitage is stellar.
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Up next on our best books set in England, but not London checklist is Middlemarch by George Eliot. I have reviewed it in full here but the long and short of it is: this book is fantastic. The scope of Middlemarch, as well as its impressive cast of characters, gives George Eliot time to intricately examine life in England in the nineteenth century. It charts political changes, advances in medicine, industrialisation, corruption, the arrival of the railways and so, so much more.
For me, Middlemarch feels like a must-read for anyone who has an interest in understanding the way English society works. I think it’s still as relevant today and offers a key insight into how the class system works. Buy this book, then get comfortable, at 800 pages it’s not a quick read. But it’s definitely worth it.
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Set in rugged Cornwall, Du Maurier begins building the suspense from the first page, with its iconic opening lines, and does not let up from there on in. Daphne du Maurier wrote the book, literally, on spine-chilling psychological thrillers. And Rebecca is a perfect example of this. This is a fantastic novel that utilises all the mystery and dark beauty of its setting to amplify the plot.
Really, Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier deserves its place on best books of all time, not just set in England. It’s impossible not to get glued to this book, and the way she gradually builds the tension to boiling point will leave you desperate for more. Read this book, then maybe sleep with the lights on (you know, just in case).
Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman
From England of the past to England in a dystopian alternate reality. In Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman, Europe was colonised by Africa instead of the other way round. In this world, which is similar to ours, they have about the same technology as we do today, same jobs, the same type of government etc. equality between races is non-existent.
By flipping the coin on racism and discrimination, Malorie Blackman exposes the way tradition and the status quo can stop us from understanding people of different races. Honestly, I still think the English publishing industry has a long way to go before we begin to see equal opportunity for authors of colour. It’s starting to change, slowly and I think novels like Noughts and Crosses really paved the way for it.
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
Finally, we have a perfect entry for this list of best books set in England. The beauty of an English summer almost becomes an extra character in The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West. In this novel, England, or a rose-tinted nostalgic version of it, saturates the plot with some of the most wistful descriptions of summers past that I’ve ever read. Understanding what the countryside and its beauty evokes in people is part in parcel of understanding this novel.
Curiously, for a book that deals with WWI, The Return of the Soldier has its feet firmly planted on English soil. It takes you on a journey into what soldiers were fighting for, real or perceived and invites you to make your own conclusions about the validity of those choices. The ending is truly spectacular, I had to ponder it for hours after I finished it.
That Rounds up the 10 Best Books Set in England (but not London)
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on what books you think should have made the list. My goal for this list was to offer a wide-ranging view of England past and present and I hope you enjoyed it! But I am always on the lookout for books that step out of the standard English stereotype of Relatively Rich, White people. So if you have any suggestion of what I should read next, comment below!
