Long before I ever set foot in Britain, I
wandered the bleak, forbidding Yorkshire moors with Catherine and Heathcliff,
explored the ancient byroads of Thomas Hardy’s Wessex, and was captivated by
Daphne du Maurier’s Cornwall. How thrilling,
then, to do a literary pilgrimage on my honeymoon.
So convinced was I that every fan of Emily
Bronte’s classic novel must want to visit Top Withens - the ruins of a
farmhouse which supposedly inspired Wuthering Heights - that I was pleasantly
surprised there wasn’t a highway to the door and a McDonald’s and souvenir shop
flanking it. In fact, my husband and I trekked across miles of empty moorland
on a dirt path to get there, encountering only a few sheep en route. How
wonderful that the landscape had hardly changed since Emily roamed her beloved
moors, and how easy it was to imagine the ghosts of Catherine and Heathcliff
still lingering.
Jamaica Inn on
brooding Bodmin Moor was the perfect setting for the sinister wreckers and
smugglers Daphne du Maurier had instilled in my imagination. On a more recent visit, I was saddened to see
that a motorway now cleaved the moor – and the once-haunting atmosphere - and Jamaica Inn had expanded to cater to highway
travellers. But you can still stay in the ancient coaching inn, as du Maurier
did in the 1930s.
Another literary excursion took my family
through the breathtaking Yorkshire Dales so lovingly described by James
Herriot. The area is known as “Herriot Country”, and brochures also list the
locations where the popular BBC series, ”All Creatures Great and Small”, based upon
his novels, was filmed.
Like millions from around the world, we’ve travelled
to Prince Edward Island to explore the charming landscape of L.M. Montgomery’s endearing
Anne
of Green Gables and other tales. Fans of her adult novel, The
Blue Castle, are also drawn to Muskoka, which so enchanted Montgomery
during a 1922 holiday that she set her only non-PEI novel there.
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| Site of the Sanatorium in Under the Moon and an important location for Book 4 |
As an author, I’ve been delighted to hear
from fans worldwide that they look forward to visiting Muskoka some day, and
others who have been seeking the locations of scenes in my novels, The
Summer Before the Storm, Elusive Dawn, and Under
the Moon.
Last year had the pleasure of taking German
relatives on a tour. Already enthralled by the unfamiliar cottage culture they
had read about in my books, they were awed by the unique boathouses, grand
mansions and cozy cabins, antique launches and regal steamships, and the rugged
beauty of the lakes. Visiting the
Muskoka Boat and Heritage Centre added another interesting dimension for them. Smitten, they wanted to stay longer and will
be returning at the first opportunity.
So literary tourism is a joy for fans, and
surely a boost to the local economy. At the request of Muskoka Tourism, I’ve
prepared a “Muskoka Novels Tour”, which directs fans to various locations used
or fictionalized in the books. (It should
be on the Tourism website by summer.)
Muskoka will undoubtedly work its usual magic
on newcomers.
