Yorkshire--books set there?

Well, my favourite historical series, The Morland Dynasty by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, is set there, just outside York, but there are now over twenty books in the series, so it might be a bit of an undertaking.
The only other one I can think of is The Secret Garden, the children's book by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Raconteur Gervase Finn has written several autobiographical books about his time in the Yorkshire Dales. They are hilarious. He recounts his experiences as a school inspector, much like Herriot did as a vet, but he is decidedly more irreverent. His views of landscapes are particularly vivid, I think, but he doesn't get bogged down with descriptions or become maudlin. The ones I've read are The Other Side of the Dale and Over Hill and Dale. There are at least two others.

Ach! Make that Gervase Phinn. My American confusion between the /F/ and /Ph/ is showing. :-)

Patricia Hall has a mystery series set in Yorkshire. I have read several of her books and enjoyed them, but unfortunately the library doesn't have all of them. Her recurring main character is Inspector Thorne.

Pat

Ginny, you may enjoy South Riding by Winifred Holtby, written in the 1920's but the underlying character/feel of the area has not changed that much.

Winifred Holtby also wrote THE CROWDED STREET, amongst just a few other books. She sets her work on the east coast (from Scarborough to Hull). Winifred died early, in the 1930s, but she was a great fighter for women's freedom even at that early time. Her great friend was Vera Brittain (Testament of Youth, Testament of Friendship), mother of one of our most famous politicians, Shirely Williams.

The Yorkshire writer STAN BARSTOW dramatised SOUTH RIDING, her best-known novel in 13 episodes for TV in the 1970s, starring Dorothy Tutin. It won a BAFTA and you can still buy it on DVD. Set in a girls' school on the coast, the new headmistress (DT) sets about making sure her girls have all the best chances in life..... while she herself starts to fall in love..... and get involved with local politics and government.

Talking of STAN BARSTOW, he is himself a famous Yorkshire writer - his best-known work is A KIND OF LOVING, made into a famous film in the '60s. Check out Martin's website:

www.stanbarstow.info

for a complete list of his novels and short stories - all about West Yorkshire and its characters. You might, for instance, like JOBY, the story of an 11 year-old boy growing up in the West Riding in 1939 - an interesting year..... Those two novels have been set, together with some of the short stories, for school and college study for many years now, and are also set texts in other parts of the word, translated into many languages.

Yorkshire working class literature flowered, of course, in the 1950s: starting with JOHN BRAINE'S ROOM AT THE TOP, it went on to Stan's novels, also DAVID STOREY'S THIS SPORTING LIFE; KEITH WATERHOUSE'S BILLY LIAR.

Then, from north Yorkshire, you have James Herriot's 'vet' novels - 'IT SHOULDN'T HAPPEN TO A VET', etc.

And, of course, you all know about the Bronte sisters who lived in Haworth, near Keighley, where I, too, lived for 20 years - about 150 yards downhill from the Parsonage. I loved it to start with, but it became very touristy towards the end of my stay.

Finally, a quiz question: What does a 'Riding' mean, as in 'West Riding'? and why were there 3 of them - north, west and east (Winifred made up 'south)? Prize for the 1st correct answer gets a slab of virtual Yorkshire parkin!

Dido

Riding must be the same as our very old (before the middle ages) Swedish "treding", a territorial unit that was a third of a larger unit such as a hundred, a province or an island. The island of Gotland is divided into the north, middle and south treding but the term is not used elsewhere now.

Marianne in Sweden

I already know what Riding means; thanks to you, Dido, for kindly explaining it to me in a previous thread. I was always puzzled why there was no 'south' originally and then doubly confused when Yorkshire was broken up to include a South Yorkshire.

I have many outdated publications about York and York Minster, the latter were published before the disastrous fire (1985, if I recall correctly). The restoration of the Minster has been quite successful, but I still feel sad about what was lost -- oh well, it's just another historic episode, I suppose. The Viking Dig exhibitions are fascinating -- I have a lot of books about that. The Old City walls... None of my literature stands out, though, so I won't recommend any of it but suggest you acquire more current materials -- I think they make great souvenirs, and reading them when you get back home brings your time in York back into great focus.

The National Park publications are lovely, I think. I have tons of books about Yorkshire geology, but those are probably too specialized unless you are into that science.

W.R. Mitchell's histories of Yorkshire appeal to me: By Gum, Life Were Sparse! is one that I can think of, though I think it covers Lancashire too.

If you have interest in the Yorkshire dialect and lore, there's a book by Arnold Kellett, The Yorkshire Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition and Folklore.

Peter Robinson's mysteries are set in Yorkshire. I've read a couple -- In a Dry Season comes to mind.

Yorkshire landscapes vary more than any other part of England, in my estimation. I have a natural affinity for bleakness, I think, but for some that pleasure is either acquired or not. I hope you have a great time in Yorkshire, Ginny.

This is a rich group of suggestions--thank you so much. I hardly know where to begin.

And I am very interested in geology, that is, what we used to jokingly call "geology for non-majors".

The trouble with so many site-specific books is that you can only buy them on-site. You read them when you get home and say to yourself, "Oh, why didn't I notice this?" or "How could I have missed that?" And never mind trying to buy most of that type of book in the US to read in advance.

But I now have the start of a wonderful reading list, thanks to all of you, and am always ready for more.

Marianne,

Yes, indeed. You win the virtual parkin - a lovely kind of sticky, solid, dark ginger cake only make in Yorkshire And of course, our languages (English, Swedish, Old Norse, Icelandic etc) once had a common pool, in the days pre-Beowulf - the Anglo-Saxon epic poem beginning:

'Hwaet, we gar dena in gear dagum' -

I'll bet that rings a bell with you.

'Riding', says the OED, comes from Old Norse 'thrithjungr' - third part; coming down to 'thriding' which then loses the 'th' sound and devolves to 'Riding'. Yorkshire folk (they're usually called 'folk') are angry to lose their historic and distinctive 3 Ridings, which have been boringly replaced by 4 areas - during the reign our Dear Lady Thatcher that happened, I do believe.

There's a lot more of north-European language influence on Yorkshire and North of England dialects, than there is on southern English. For instance, the great poet Chaucer (him of Canterbury Tales fame) was a Londoner living in the 2nd half of the 14th century, and mostly one can have a shot at reading and understanding at least some of CT because the dialect is accessible - but more French influenced. At the same time was living and writing, somewhere around Chester (just south of Yorkshire), the anonymous poet who wrote Sir Gawayn and the Grene Knight - in a rather different dialect..... Try translating that one off the page! Mostly, it's impossible, unless you've learned some of the influences.

'The snawe snittered ful snart that snayped the wildes'.

2 poets, both English, from the same century, living less than 200 miles apart, yet speaking what might amount to 2 different languages, at first sight.

Yorkshire dialect isn't so impenetrable now though as it was in the Brontes' time: I don't know anyone who understands completely what old Joseph is saying at the beginning of Wuthering Heights - not even the most fervent Yorkshire person has been able to tell me. And even 20 years ago, some might have found it quite difficult to penetrate the accent and dialect of a Haworth native with their 'A 't a bahn?' and their 'thoil' etc. And, of course, on another thread there was discussion of the glottal stop: Yorkshire is the home of one of the most ancient and famous glottal stops of all time: the t' in place of 'the' - as in 'Ah ta bahn to t'games? When I was a child, it fascinated me when I heard it in films and plays, and I used to practise it on my own for hours. So that when I went there to University, I could do it like a native!

Bahn, nah, to put t'cat out, as it's trying to rive bolt out o t'door!

Give my love to Yorkshire, Ginny, and enjoy it because it's wonderful.

Dido

Speaking of Yorkshire poets, the late Ted Hughes came from that part of England. Two gifted poets married each other, but it did not last --- (American Sylvia Plath, who came to a sad end). If you like poetry, read "Birthday Letters", written in honor of his late wife.

ginny, was it you that came over here on a garden-visiting holiday a couple of years ago?
Will your time in Yorkshire be spent in looking round properties, Stately Homes etc?
If you have an itinerary I'm sure some of us could come up with suggestions for further reading.
Re your geological interests Malham Tarn in the Dales is an interesting site as is Ravenscar on the N Yorks coast. . . famous for its fossils.
Don't forget your walking boots. You could stay there for a month and only scratch the surface of what's on offer.
And don't tell Dido I said this but the people of Yorkshire think even know that they are superior to everyone else in England. I am only allowed to whisper this because I have ancestors from there of considerable wealth and importance. Unfortunately my forebear was the one born on 'the wrong side of the blanket' and ended his days in a London Workhouse. :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Malhamdale

Dido: What a lovely word is 'snitter'! I visualised a light snow, blown by the wind, probably incorrectly! Could you please translate that sentence?

Annpan, that's just about what it does mean - so Onomatopaiea actually does work!

'The snawe snittered ful snart that snayped the wildes'

literally translates as:

'The snow came shivering down very cruelly that nipped the wild beasts.'

It's a lovely poem - but I can't translate it easily myself. Tolkien was an expert on it, incidentally.

Dido

Back to the original question (though the diversion has been delightful :-) ), the Dalziel (pron Dee-el) and Pascoe detective novels by Reginald Hill are set in Yorkshire.

Bill Bryson has some interesting comments and observations on Yorkshire in his book, "Notes from a Small Island". Obviously, the whole book doesn't cover Yorkshire, but there is an interesting section on it when he goes there. p

Plus it has the usual Bryson wit.

By a strange coincidence, I have just been given one for my birthday; "God's Own Country" by Ross Raisin.

I've not read it yet, but The Times review is quite complimentary.

As a Lancastrian, I can only assume that the title is strongly ironic :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Times review

Wasn't the farm and lands which Beatrix Potter bought, after she lost her love, up in the area of Yorkshire?

mary, Beatrix Potter settled on the other side of the country in the Lake District, north of Phil's neck of the woods.

Liz/lemonhead Bill Bryson lived in the Yorkshire Dales for several years.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bill Bryson Yorkshire