Top 5 Wednesday – Top Books That Take Place in Your Country/Region/Area

Happy Wednesday, people! (She says, writing this on Monday evening). This week’s Top 5 Wednesday is rather easy for me, as it is ‘Top Books That Take Place in Your Country’. Now, I am from the UK, and the majority of my books take place in either the UK or the US (or actually most frequently in a fantasy realm, but we’ll disregard that), so a great deal of them are eligible for this list. The only issue now is choosing five!

All of my list take place in the United Kingdom (obviously), and there are a couple of instances where I can find links to my county, but the majority of UK books take place in London, so that’s the most frequent location here. Now for the list:

5. ‘Clockwork Princess’ by Cassandra Clare

Not my favourite series in the world, in fact I had quite a few issues with it, but it gets the fifth spot purely as it came the closest to home; in ‘Clockwork Princess’ when Will goes on his travel, he bypasses where I live, taking a route I know rather well. I am fond of this mention, so it feels apt that it goes on the list.

4. ‘The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, or The Murder at Road Hill House’ by Kate Summerscale

Based on a real story, ‘The Suspicions of Mr Whicher’ recounts the notorious murder case of a young boy found stabbed in a privy in Wiltshire in 1860. I like murder mysteries, and I read this before the TV show came out. It may seem a little morbid, but I am very fond of going over these old crime cases that happened many years ago (such as Jack the Ripper) and trying to piece them together.

3. ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen

I know, technically I still haven’t finished this one, but I am currently reading it and actually really enjoying it. It is set in my home county of Hertfordshire (albeit in a fictional town) so it definitely makes the cut. I’m on my way to finishing this, and hopefully it concludes in just as good a way as it starts.

2. ‘Curtain’ by Agatha Christie

The very last Christie book featuring my favourite detective, Hercule Poirot, this book returns to Styles Court, the fictitious country manor in Essex where the first Poirot book, ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles’, took place. I am a big Agatha Christie fan, but it has to be said that this one is my particular favourite; it was the first full-length Christie I read (I read the Poirot short story collection prior) and it ends absolutely superbly. This book is an all-time favourite.

1. The ‘Harry Potter’ Series by J.K. Rowling

Did you expect anything different? Splitting its time primarily between Surrey, Scotland and London, Almost every British child of my generation has read or watched ‘Harry Potter’; we British fans get very possessive over this series (can you blame us, what with the theme park being in America so we can’t go?), and it will forever be the book that sums up my childhood.

That’s it for this week, and ‘Harry Potter’ is once again in my top 5. I swear it is on the list more times than it isn’t! That’s all for now, guys. Thanks for reading, and until next week!

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