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Literary Links

South Devon's Literary Links

The inspirational natures of the local landscapes have regularly drawn writers to South Devon. A few of the most famous are listed here.

Mary Wesley.
Born in 1912, in Berkshire. She started a hugely successful carreer as a novelist when she was 70. "The Camomile Lawn" published in 1985 was an instant best seller. She lived in Totnes until her death in 2002.

Agatha Christie
Born in Torquay, in 1890. She later bought Greenway House near Galmpton as a holiday home. The house and gardens were given to the National Trust by Agatha Christie's family. The gardens are open to the public but the house is currently being restored and will probably not open until spring of 2009. Author of international repute for her crime writing centred around her best known creations - the Belgian super detective Hercule Poirot and the amazing amateur slooth, Miss Marple .

Arthur Conan Doyle.
Frequent visitor to a friend in Buckfastleigh who, it is said, gave Conan Doyle the source of his Hound of the Baskervilles story, and acted as his guide to Dartmoor, which of course, is the backdrop to the story.

John Keats
Spent a lot of time in Teignmouth where he had family connections. A plaque marks the address, at 20, Northumberland Terrace - now called Keats' House. He wrote humorous poems about the local weather and scenery, as well as more serious work on his Endymion and Isabella.

Charles Dickens
Great fan of, and regular visitor to Dawlish - made it the birthplace of Nicholas Nickleby. Dickens's family had Exeter connections too.

Jane Austen
Regular visits to Teignmouth and Dawlish, which gets a mention in Sense and Sensibility - the TV epic staring Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson, filmed in South Devon.

Sean O'Casey
Renowned Irish playwright. Author of "The Shadow of a Gunman" (1923), "Juno and the Paycock" (1924), and others. Lived in Totnes from 1938 until 1954, and afterwards in Torquay. O'Casey died in St Marychurch in 1964.