Eleven Travel Memoirs That Will Transport You to England
These memoirs take readers on a lighthearted journey across the British Isles
The poet Robert Browning famously wrote “Oh, to be in England now that April’s there.” If spring has turned your thoughts to England but a trip across the pond isn’t in your future, try dipping into some memoirs for an armchair trip to England. Reading a good travel memoir can be as enjoyable as taking a trip — and the logistics of armchair travel are certainly easier!
England is my happy place. Over the years I’ve enjoyed it both in person and vicariously through a host of memoirs about other Americans’ adventures in England. I put together this list of my favorite lighthearted memoirs to help fellow Anglophiles enjoy their own vicarious trips to the British Isles.
The books are arranged in roughly the order in which the authors’ experiences took place. Together, they form an American view of England that spans most of the 20th century. Many of the books on this list are less well-known today, but they’re worth seeking out.
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (1942) by Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough
The Roaring Twenties are barely underway when 19-year-old coeds Cornelia Otis and Emily Kimbrough convince their parents to let them take a solo trip to England and France. The pair are soon entangled in one mishap after another, from an unexpected bout of measles that threatens to derail the trip before they even disembark at Southampton, to a traumatic afternoon trapped in the maze at Hampton Court Palace, to a peculiar encounter with the author H.G. Wells. The two flappers rampage across England and then France with all the panache of the young and clueless.
With Malice Toward Some (1938) by Margaret Halsey
Margaret Halsey’s memoir is full of biting yet witty observations about her adjustment to rural Devonshire during the year she and her husband lived there while he was on a faculty exchange. Halsey’s book focuses on a part of England that’s been less well-documented by travel writers, capturing a snapshot of Devonshire in the mid-1930s. This award-winning memoir was a bestseller in its day but can be difficult to find today.
Forty Plus and Fancy Free (1954) by Emily Kimbrough
Indiana native Emily Kimbrough was a prolific author, and in addition to co-writing Our Hearts Were Young and Gay with Cornelia Otis Skinner, she wrote more than a dozen books and hundreds of articles for magazines such as The New Yorker, Ladies Home Journal, and Atlantic Monthly over the course of her career. Forty Plus and Fancy Free is a humorous account of Kimbrough’s 1953 trip to Italy and England, culminating in her live reporting on Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation for CBS Radio.
84, Charing Cross Road (1970) and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (1973) by Helene Hanff
84, Charing Cross Road spans 20 years of correspondence (1949–1968) between acerbic New York writer Helene Hanff and reserved English bookseller Frank Doel. The sequel, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, recounts Hanff’s long-anticipated journey to England. I highly recommend reading the two books consecutively (they’re both quick reads and are sometimes published in a single volume). Once you’ve read 84, Charing Cross Road, you’ll want to find out what happens when Hanff finally takes her big trip across the Atlantic. The film adaptation starring Anne Bancroft as Helene, Anthony Hopkins as Frank, and Judi Dench in a small role as Frank’s wife Nora, is one of those rare movies that actually does the book justice.
My Love Affair with England (1992) by Susan Allen Toth
I was already an avid Anglophile when I came across this book, but I fell even more deeply in love with England as I read Susan Toth’s heartwarming account of her English adventures. From her first visit in 1960 through succeeding visits over the next 30 years, Toth discovers there are many unexpected layers to her love affair with England. Toth also wrote two enjoyable follow-ups, England as You Like It (1995) and England for All Seasons (1997).
Looking for Class (1993) by Bruce Feiler
In this early book by New York Times best-selling author Bruce Feiler (Walking the Bible, Council of Dads), readers are transported to the gleaming spires of Cambridge University as Feiler chronicles the year he spent working on a master’s degree in international relations and jumping headlong into all the cultural and social traditions the venerated university had to offer. By the time you’re done reading it, you’ll feel as if you’ve just spent a year at Cambridge too. For armchair travel to a different part of the world, I also recommend Feiler’s first book, Learning to Bow (1991), a funny and absorbing tale about his adventures teaching English in Japan.
Notes from a Small Island (1995) by Bill Bryson
Undoubtedly the best-known travel memoir on this list, Notes from a Small Island documents Bill Bryson’s ambitious effort to explore the nooks and crannies of Great Britain while relying almost entirely on public transportation. Bryson’s humorous and thoughtful insights into the people he meets, the places he visits, and the history and traditions he encounters made this one of the most popular travel memoirs of the 20th century. In 2003, BBC Radio 4 listeners chose Notes from a Small Island as the book that best represents England, an amazing accolade for a book written by an American author.
The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island (2015) by Bill Bryson
In this witty and endearing follow-up to Notes from a Small Island, Bryson takes to the road again, this time traveling the length of Great Britain, from the seaside town of Bognor Regis in the south of England to Cape Wrath, Scotland, which by his calculation is the northernmost edge of Great Britain. Along the way he explores parts of Great Britain that are seldom found on a typical tourist itinerary. Bryson’s affectionate tribute to his adopted country — which doesn’t make any attempt to whitewash the UK’s sharp corners — does a beautiful job of explaining why there are so many Anglophiles in the world. I found myself laughing out loud page after page.
This post originally appeared on Medium.