Why do authors choose to set their books in Norfolk?
We explore the enduring appeal of our county with three contemporary writers who set their novels here.
Fittingly for an author, David Blake’s relationship with Norfolk started when he read a book. “Arthur Ransome’s series of Swallows & Amazons books. In particular, the two set in the area: Coot Club and The Big Six,” David explains.
“The relationship continued when I watched a TV series called Rivers, featuring Griff Rhys Jones. In one episode, he hired a traditional Broads sailing boat that had neither an engine nor electricity, with the expected hilarious results. Around that time, I started learning how to sail. Wishing to create a Swallows & Amazons experience for my family, I dragged them up to the Broads that summer. I instantly fell in love with the place and we’ve been driving up for family holidays ever since.”
David has also been writing about the place ever since, with his 10th Norfolk crime thriller, Bluebell Wood, to be released in late 2023.
By contrast, Elly Griffiths’ ties to the county are of a familial nature. “My grandmother and my Aunt Marge lived in Norfolk. Marge had a boat, which was moored in Reedham, and I’ve got very happy memories of it. Marge would have one hand on the tiller and one on a gin and tonic, and she’d tell wonderful stories of Norfolk myth and legend,” remembers Elly, whose Dr Ruth Galloway novels follow a Norfolk-based archaeologist’s crime-solving escapades. “When I started writing the Ruth books, Marge was a great help. In The Janus Stone there’s a (very slow) chase along the Norfolk Broads and Marge helped me chart the whole route.”
Claire Daverley, author of 2023 novel Talking At Night, first encountered Norfolk on childhood holidays. “My parents took me camping in Thetford Forest and some of my earliest memories are of scampering through the pine forests or wandering through the cobbled streets of Norwich on rainy days,” she says.
“As an art student, I often found myself back in Norfolk during the holidays, photographing the shipwreck in Hunstanton or the seals and beach huts in Wells-next-the-Sea.”
Claire still has ties to the county through her in-laws and enjoys swimming at Salthouse and walking along the Cromer coastline. But what about the county inspires putting pen to paper?
“There was something about the atmosphere of Norfolk that felt fitting for Will and Rosie’s story – the brilliant sunsets, the sweeping beaches, the stone-fronted houses and pine needles dropped in the sand – and I had memories of seeing barn owls at twilight, or hearing the geese in winter as I walked through the landscape. It felt cinematic and beautiful, which was essential for Talking At Night.”
David was similarly inspired by a unique atmosphere: “We’d spent many a blissful day drifting effortlessly along the Broads’ gently meandering rivers. We’d also spent an equal number of nights moored up alongside dilapidated jetties, cautiously watching banks of ethereal white mist drift steadily towards us like unstoppable armies of the walking dead. Immersed in such mystical surroundings, it was difficult not to begin conjuring up twisted stories filled with romance, humour, drama and dread.”
Norfolk’s marshland was where Elly found her story. “The idea for the Ruth books came when I was crossing Titchwell Marsh with my archaeologist husband Andy. He mentioned that prehistoric people considered marshland sacred – because it’s neither land nor sea, but something in-between, they saw it as a bridge to the afterlife. Neither land nor sea, neither life nor death,” she reflects. “The entire plot of The Crossing Places came to me in that instant. I knew that my main character would be an archaeologist, so it made sense for her to live in Norfolk, which is particularly rich in archaeology.”
With such deep historical roots and stunning landscapes, Norfolk certainly offers plenty to get creative juices flowing, so when it comes to favourite locations, our writers understandably find it hard to choose.
While Elly recommends the walk from Blakeney to Cley-next-the-Sea, Claire’s top spot is Holme Beach. “The sunsets are so dramatic and I love that you have to walk through the sand dunes to reach the water. It’s so quiet; I get the sense not many people know about it, and it’s often windy, and sort of melancholy in its loneliness. The romanticism of that place, with its blend of endless sky and sea, definitely helped inspire the tone of Talking At Night.”
For David, it’s Malthouse Broad, where his first crime thriller Broadland began, in the village of Ranworth. “This is the location for my fondest memory: mooring up in the middle of the broad on a serene summer’s evening to ferry first my wife, then my children, over to Ranworth’s cosy little harbour, using nothing more technologically advanced than an old wooden rowing boat. It will always have a special place in my heart.”
So why not take a trip out to explore our marvellous county of Norfolk and absorb its edifying atmosphere? Who knows, you might end up being inspired to write a novel of your own.
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