Books Based in Essex, England

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In this post you’ll find a list of books based in Essex! It’s a work in progress, so as and when I read more books, I shall update accordingly! If you have any recommendations, please feel free to let me know and I’ll add them to the reading list!

Books Set in Essex

The Essex Serpent – Sarah Perry: Review

(Colchester)

The Essex Serpent is a fiction book, based on a village’s reaction to a ‘beast’ that is said to be living in the waters of the Blackwater Estuary in Essex. (It reminded me a lot of the story of the Basilisk was in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets).

My goodness I struggled with The Essex Serpent. I hate to write bad reviews but I found it a really tough read. I lost track of characters and couldn’t follow a story line. The sentences were VERY long (often over 60 words before there was a full stop) which made it hard to process.

Connection To Essex

The main character, Cora, spend a lot of her time in Colchester and in London. I’m not sure what the reason of her being in Colchester was, but the Castle Museum (Colchester Castle?) and The George hotel was mentioned a lot. The George is a real Essex hotel that dates back over 500 years.

The rest of the time was spent in Aldwinter, which doesn’t appear on the map. This is where the ‘Essex Serpent’ was often seen. In my head I was picturing somewhere like Heybridge. Mersea and St Osyth were mentioned. If you get too close to Colchester though, it’s actually not the River Blackwater, it’s the River Colne. The book spoke about the Blackwater marshes. So maybe it’s closer to the Blackwater Estuary National Nature Reserve and the villages/parishes of Virley or Salcott (which come under the Colchester borough) or maybe even Tollesbury.

The Essex Serpent TV Series

The Essex Serpent is now being turned into a 6 part TV series which is being filmed in Essex! Parts of it have been filmed at Maldon Promenade Park and in Brightlingsea. So I was quite close by visualise Heybridge while reading the story!

The Forgotten Seamstress – Liz Trenow: Review

(Braintree/Colchester)

The Forgotten Seamstress is a fiction book that follows Caroline Meadows in her quest to discover the history of a quilt, that she found in her mother’s attic.

It’s generally not a subject that I would be interested in, but I absolutely loved this book. It flicks between modern day times, which follows Caroline’s quest and then Maria story from the early 1900’s. I thought the story line was great and I loved the twists and turns!

Connection To Essex

I originally found this book as it said it was based in Braintree (my hometown). However Braintree didn’t really appear until almost the very end of the book. It wasn’t mentioned by name, just described as an ‘insignificant Essex town’ (which did make me laugh, despite being a little offended!). But the giveaway was that the story is based around Royal silks that were made by Warner & Sons. Caroline goes to visit the Warner Textile Archive, which is a very real place that is located in Braintree.

The majority of the story takes place in London and the fictional town of ‘Eastchester’. Eastchester, I guessed very early on was inspired by Colchester. The town’s name is obviously a big give away, but some other clues are: the University of Eastchester (University of Essex), Eastchester United (Colchester United) and the fact it’s just off the A12.

One of the story locations is the fictional ‘Helena Hall’. This was inspired by Severalls Asylum in Colchester, that has since been demolished and is now a housing estate. It closed in 1997 (when I was 9), so the only recent reference I know of it, is the business park named after it. Since now Googling it and talking to my parents about it, it sounds like it has a fascinating (but dark) history.

The Only Way Was Essex – Spike Mays: Review

(Ashdon)

The Only Way Was Essex is a non fiction book about Spike Mays’ experiences growing up in rural Essex in the 1920s. The name closely relates to a modern day TV show that I’m sure everyone from Essex and beyond has heard of: ‘The Only Way Is Essex’. The contrasts in Spike’s world growing up during the war and the Essex portrayed in TOWIE couldn’t be further apart.