Hello everyone,
I live in Bristol in the UK, which for those of you who do not know, is a major city in the South West. It is known for its diverse creative scene, the street artist Banksy, the annual International Balloon Fiesta, and the toppling of slave trader Edward Colston’s statue during Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
It is also the setting for a lot of books, especially mysteries and thrillers. It is mentioned in works as varied as Harry Potter and Treasure Island, while its university is attended by Brian Jackson in David Nicholls’ Starter For Ten.
I do not deliberately seek out books that are set in my home city, but by strange coincidence they have come to me. So I decided to share a list, and as you can see, all of them belong in the same genre.
I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh
This was the first book I read that featured Bristol so prominently, and it was very unusual to read about places I know very well written about in fiction.
The book has become a bit of a standard bearer in the crime thriller genre, so lots of readers have been able to experience Bristol through this lens too.
Sanjida Kay
Sanjida Kay has written four psychological thrillers and three of them are at least partly set in Bristol.
Bone By Bone features a mother who has just moved from London with her daughter, but becomes the victim of a hate campaign. My Mother’s Secret made be discover parts of Bristol and the surrounding area that I did not know existed, while the family in One Year Later live in Bristol and something bad happens while they are on holiday in Italy.
Kay lives in Bristol, so that is probably the main reason for setting so many of her stories here.
Watching You by Lisa Jewell
The fact that this book is set in Bristol does not really add much to the plot. It is also my least favourite by Lisa Jewell, so make of that what you will.
Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister
This was a much more recent read and as Gillian McAllister sets her books in several different UK cities, she chose Bristol for Just Another Missing Person. Specifically she chooses Portishead, an area on the outskirts with a marina and a nature reserve, for what is quite a gloomy thriller.
The Missing by C.L. Taylor
Bristol is much less depressing in real life than the books I have read which are set here. C.L. Taylor also lives in the city and uses it as the setting for this dark story where the title just speaks for itself.
Beast by Matt Wesolowski
Most of this story is set in the fictional town of Ergarth in the North East of England, but the final part takes place in Bristol’s Arnos Vale Cemetery, as podcast host Scott King follows the trail of someone who interferes in the case he is investigating.
For a cemetery, Arnos Vale is something of a beauty spot, and is one of the most visited places in the city. It is, to be fair, rather pretty.
If I Die Before I Wake by Emily Koch
Another author who lives in Bristol, Emily Koch sets her mystery If I Die Before I Wake here, telling the story of a man who suffers from amnesia and the inability to speak following an accident.
Let’s Chat
Have you read any of these books? Have you ready many books set in your hometown? Let me know in the comments!
Stephen Reads Books 