[This is a review I wrote in 2008]

**An interesting reference guide.**

The new edition of The Oxford Guide to Literary Britain & Ireland is a useful travel companion, both for explorers and armchair travellers alike. Nearly 2,000 places - villages, towns, cities, and landscapes - are referred to, inviting readers to explore connections with their favourite writers, from where they were born and lived, to where they worked and found inspiration for their writing. In this new edition you can find living authors, as well as all the classics, so from Chaucer, to Jane Austen, to Philip Pullman, you can take a literary journey through history to the present day.

The book is neatly organised by region, and then indexed by writers and place names so it's quite easy to find what you're looking for. Glancing through the index an entry for Yarnton in Oxfordshire caught my eye, so I looked it up to find that one of A. E. Coppard's poems, `The Sapling' was written to commemorate his gift of an acacia to Agnes Evans of Yarnton, for her new house. You'll find lots of information about the literary greats but it's very refreshing to see mention of much smaller places and lesser-known connections too. For example in the Midlands, find out that Charles Dickens gave readings in Leamington Spa in 1855 and 1862, poet Philip Larkin was born in Radford, Coventry, and Spenser is believed to have written part of his famous The Faerie Queene in a room in Canons Ashby House, Northamptonshire. John Buchan, best known for The Thirty-Nine Steps, lived for some years at the Manor House in Elsfield, Oxfordshire and his grave can be found in the village churchyard. There are so many snippets to choose from, wherever you live or travel to.

The book is a joy to dip into, browse, and explore from region to region and I can recommend it. ( )