Novelists
Re-enactment of the Battle of Sedgemoor, 1685, fought at Westonzoyland
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Classic Novels from history
Somerset has had strong connections with many famous novelists throughout its history, some of whom are probably well known, and one or two who may surprise you!
Whether these novelists have drawn on inspiration from the rugged landscape of Exmoor or the beautiful architecture of the county's period properties, Somerset has served as a dramatic backdrop to some of history's most popular novels, non-fiction and even an early 18th Century Travel guide!
Discover more about Somerset's Famous Novelists...
Daniel Defoe
Born around 1660 in London, Daniel Defoe was one of the founders of the English novel, he wrote Robinson Crusoe in 1719.
Defoe was involved in the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 – an attempt to overthrow King James II. He was present at the battle of Sedgemoor at Westonzoyland. Monmouth lost the battle but Defoe managed to escape likely execution or transportation at the Bloody Assizes trials, by buying a pardon.
In 1704, Defoe published one of his earliest books entitled The Storm. It included a number of eyewitness accounts of the Great Storm of 1703, which lasted over a week, killed 8,000 people and left much of Somerset’s coastal area either flooded or devastated.
Later, in 1724, Defoe wrote Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain, which includes some wonderful descriptions of Somerset, including the remark that Cheddar cheese is ‘the greatest and best kind in England’.
Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray, born in 1781, was a satirical novelist and author of the wellloved Vanity Fair.
In the 1840s he was a frequent visitor to the medieval manor house, Clevedon Court, owned by his friend Sir Charles Abraham Elton.
RD Blackmore
Richard Doddridge Blackmore’s romantic story, Lorna Doone, was first published in 1869. Blackmore gained much of the material for his book from a holiday toExmoor in 1865, which took him to several inns in the county including the Ship Inn in Porlock.
The novel tells the story of a young farmer from Oare, John Ridd, who falls in love with the adopted daughter of a family of outlaws, the Doones.
The real-life Doones were a band of Scottish outlaws who fled to Exmoor, where it is said they preyed upon travellers from a hideout in a remote area beyond Badgworthy Water.
St Mary's church at Oare is where Lorna Doone is said to have been shot by her halfbrother during her wedding ceremony. A memorial stone stands in Badgeworthy Valley, now known as Doone Valley.
John Steinbeck
One of the most prolific American writers of the 20th century, Steinbeck is famous for many novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939.
Less well-known is Steinbeck’s incomplete retelling of Thomas Malory's medieval romance, Le Morte d'Arthur, which brought Steinbeck to Somerset.
Steinbeck stayed for nine months with his wife at Discove Cottage in Redlynch, just outside Bruton in 1959 and he regarded his time in Somerset as the happiest time of his life.
He wrote: “Time loses all its meaning. The peace I have dreamed about is here, a real thing: thick as a stone and feelable and something for your hands.”
These Arthurian works were published posthumously in 1976 as The Acts and Deeds of King Arthur and his Noble Knights.
Evelyn and Auberon Waugh
Evelyn Waugh, best known for such darkly humorous and satirical novels as Decline and Fall, Scoop, A Handful of Dust, and also Brideshead Revisited, lived at Combe Florey house, From 1956 until his death in 1966. Combe Florey is just over six miles from Taunton about a mile from Bishops Lydeard. His son Auberon, journalist, contributor to Private Eye and novelist continued to live in the house with his family until his death in 2001. Auberon is buried in Peter and Paul Churchyard at Combe Florey whilst Evelyn is buried in a private plot of land near the churchyard.
