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Bath is a lovely city in the UK, honey coloured buildings along cobbled streets and historical relics dating thousands of years. If this wasn’t enough to convince you then here are 5 books to inspire you to visit Bath.
Books to Inspire You to Visit Bath
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Catherine Morland is one of ten children of a country clergyman. She is immersed in the world of attentive men and elaborate balls. But when one her suitors takes her to his family estate, Northanger Abbey, she becomes lost in the gothic mystery which surrounds it. Northanger Abbey is fundamentally a parody of Gothic fiction.
Austen turns the conventions of 18th century novels on their head, by making her heroine a plain and undistinguished girl from a middle-class family, allowing the heroine to fall in love with the hero before he has a serious thought of her, and exposing the heroine’s romantic fears and curiosities as groundless.
The Particular Charm of Miss Jane Austen by Ada Bright & Cass Grafton
What would life be like if something had prevented Jane Austen from ever publishing any of her books? Dedicated Janeite, Rose, is about to find out! It’s September, and the city of Bath is playing host to the annual Jane Austen Festival, a celebration of the famous author and her works.
Rose Wallace, Bath resident and avid Jane Austen fan, can’t wait for her friends to arrive and the Festival to start, unaware one of the recently arrived guests will turn her life upside down by sharing with her a secret that ultimately puts Jane Austen’s entire literary legacy at risk. With the support of a displaced two hundred year old author and a charmed necklace, can Rose help to bring back some of the most beloved stories of all time and turn her own life around in the process?
Avon Street by Paul Emanuelli
One night, one rash act, one crime changed James Daunton’s life for ever. Robbed of everything he once had, and trapped in a merciless vendetta, James must now take on Nathaniel Caine and his gang to survive. Alone, he cannot hope to win, but to find allies he needs to learn to trust in a world of betrayal. Each of those who promise help has their own secrets, hidden in silences, half-truths and lies. And asked if it is fate, destiny, or simply change that brings them together, each of them would have a different answer.
Avon Street is an historical adventure story that takes the reader on a journey behind the Georgian facades of the city to expose the darker side of Victorian Bath. It is a book about the potential that lies, often unlocked or unrecognised, in all of us.
Searching for Captain Wentworth by Jane Odiwe
When aspiring writer, Sophie Elliot, receives the keys to the family townhouse in Bath, it’s an invitation she can’t turn down, especially when she learns that she will be living next door to the house Jane Austen lived in. On discovering that an ancient glove belonging to her mysterious neighbour, Josh Strafford, will transport her back in time to Regency Bath, she questions her sanity, but Sophie is soon caught up in two dimensions, each reality as certain as the other. Torn between her life in the modern world, and that of her ancestor who befriends Jane Austen and her fascinating brother Charles, Sophie’s story travels two hundred years across time, and back again, to unite this modern heroine with her own Captain Wentworth.
Blending fact and fiction together, the tale of Jane Austen’s own quest for happiness weaves alongside, creating a believable world of new possibilities for the inspiration behind the beloved novel, Persuasion.
This is Paradise by Will Eaves
The Alldens live in a ramshackle house in suburban Bath. Don and Emily have four children: confident Liz, satirical Clive, shy Lotte, and Benjamin, the late arrival. Together they take the usual knocks, go to work, go abroad, go to university, go to pieces. Don and Emily stick it out, their strong marriage tested by experience and frustrated by love for Clive, the ardent boxing fan at odds with himself, their special child.
But then ordinary is special, too, as the Alldens will discover thirty years later when Emily falls ill and her children come home to say goodbye. Their unforgettable story is an intimate record of survival that is clear-eyed, funny and deeply moving.
Have you read any books that inspire you to visit Bath?
Let me know in the comments.
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Searching For Captain Wentworth sounds right up my alley! Time travel always catches my eye!
Admittedly I have yet to read it, I’ve had a copy sat in my to read pile for about a month. It definitely sounds interesting though.
I’m always looking for new book recommendations, especially those that have to do with travel! Thanks for sharing these!
Thanks. I love books that make me want to visit a place, it makes a change from flicking through travel guides.
I’ve never been to the UK before. However, I’ve always wanted to go and Bath is at the top of the list.
I would definitely recommend Bath if you ever visit the UK.
I’ve heard of bath, but had no idea it was a subject in books. Now I really want to visit.
I love Bath. I love finding books that are set or inspired by places other than huge capital cities. The UK has so many fab places that inspire creativity,
This is the second time I’m reading about Bath in the last few weeks. I’m going to be in Europe in the next couple of weeks and was thinking about visiting the UK. I’m a Jane Austen fan and I’ll look into swinging by Bath.
If you’re coming to the UK I would definitely recommend a visit to Bath.