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NORTH YORKSHIRE Dracula by Bram Stoker Synopsis: When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a London house, he makes horrifying discoveries in his client's castle. Soon afterwards, disturbing incidents unfold in England: a ship runs aground on the shores of Whitby, its crew vanished; beautiful Lucy Westenra slowly succumbs to a mysterious, wasting illness, her blood drained away; and the lunatic Renfield raves about the imminent arrival of his 'master'. In the ensuing battle of wills between the sinister Count and a determined group of adversaries - led by the intrepid vampire hunter Abraham van Helsing - Bram Stoker created a masterpiece of the horror genre, probing into questions of identity, sanity and the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire. Alternative: All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot (link to book discussion thread) Other North Yorkshire books: A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

WEST YORKSHIRE Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë Synopsis: Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange, situated on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before; of the intense relationship between the gypsy foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw; and how Catherine, forced to choose between passionate, tortured Heathcliff and gentle, well-bred Edgar Linton, surrendered to the expectations of her class. As Heathcliff's bitterness and vengeance at his betrayal is visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past. Other West Yorkshire books: Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

GREATER LONDON The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle Synopsis: Out of his smoke-filled rooms in Baker Street stalks a figure to cause the criminal classes to quake in their boots and rush from their dens of inequity … The twelve mysteries gathered in this first collection of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson’s adventures reveal the brilliant consulting detective at the height of his powers. Problems involving a man with a twisted lip, a fabulous blue carbuncle and five orange pips tax Sherlock Holmes’ intellect alongside some of his most famous cases, including A Scandal in Bohemia and The Red-Headed League. Other Greater London books: There are so many options for Greater London, that you can also look at London Fiction thread.

LEICESTERSHIRE The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend Synopsis: Friday January 2nd I felt rotten today. It's my mother's fault for singing 'My Way' at two o'clock in the morning at the top of the stairs. Just my luck to have a mother like her. There is a chance my parents could be alcoholics. Next year I could be in a children's home. Meet Adrian Mole, a hapless teenager providing an unabashed, pimples-and-all glimpse into adolescent life. Writing candidly about his parents' marital troubles, the dog, his life as a tortured poet and 'misunderstood intellectual', Adrian's painfully honest diary is still hilarious and compelling reading thirty years after it first appeared. Other Leicestershire books: The Right To An Answer by Anthony Burgess

CAMBRIDGESHIRE The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers Synopsis: The best of the golden age crime writers, praised by all the top modern writers in the field including P. D. James and Ruth Rendell, Dorothy L. Sayers created the immortal Lord Peter Wimsey. The 11th book featuring Lord Peter, set in a country church, is often named as the best detective story ever written. When his sexton finds a corpse in the wrong grave, the rector of Fenchurch St Paul asks Lord Peter Wimsey to find out who the dead man was and how he came to be there. The lore of bell-ringing and a brilliantly-evoked village in the remote fens of East Anglia are the unforgettable background to a story of an old unsolved crime and its violent unravelling twenty years later. Other Cambridgeshire books: Case Histories by Kate Atkinson Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce Waterland by Graham Swift Porterhouse Blue by Tom Sharpe

EAST SUSSEX Winnie-The-Pooh by A. A. Milne Synopsis: AA Milne, born in 1882, based the characters of Pooh Bear, Eeyore the Donkey, Piglet, Tigger, Kanger and Roo on his son, Christopher Robin's real nursery toys. The Milne family live in Ashdown Forest and the stories of their adventures are based there. You are cordially invited into the Hundred Acre Wood. Meet Pooh, Eeyore and the rest of the friends. Other East Sussex books: Mapp and Lucia by E. F. Benson Brighton Rock by Graham Greene Between The Acts by Virginia Woolf The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell

HEREFORDSHIRE On The Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin Synopsis: On the Black Hill is an elegantly written tale of identical twin brothers who grow up on a farm in rural Wales and never leave home. They till the rough soil and sleep in the same bed, touched only occasionally by the advances of the 20th century. In depicting the lives of Benjamin and Lewis and their interactions with their small local community Chatwin comments movingly on the larger questions of human experience. Other Herefordshire books:

EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE South Riding by Winifred Holtby Synopsis: The community of South Riding, like the rest of the country, lives in the long shadow of war. Blighted by recession and devastated by the loss, they must also come to terms with significant social change. Forward-thinking and ambitious, Sarah Burton is the embodiment of such change. After the death of her fiancé, she returns home to Yorkshire focused on her career as headmistress of the local school. But not everyone can embrace the new social order. Robert Carne, a force of conservatism, stands firmly against Sarah. A tormented man, he carries a heavy burden that locks him in the past. As the villagers of South Riding adjust to Sarah's arrival and face the changing world, emotions run high, prejudices are challenged and community spirit is tested. Other East Riding of Yorkshire books:

NORTHUMBERLAND The Stars Look Down by A. J. Cronin Synopsis: The Stars Look Down was A.J. Cronin's fourth novel, published in 1935, and this tale of a North country mining family was a great favourite with his readers. Robert Fenwick is a miner, and so are his three sons. His wife is proud that all her four men go down the mines. But David, the youngest, is determined that somehow he will educate himself and work to ameliorate the lives of his comrades who ruin their health to dig the nation's coal. It is, perhaps, a typical tale of the era in which it was written – there were many novels about coal mining, but Cronin, a doctor turned author, had a gift for storytelling, and in his time wrote several very popular and successful novels In the magnificent narrative tradition of The Citadel, Hatter’s Castle and Cronin’s other novels, The Stars Look Down is deservedly remembered as a classic of its age. Other Northumberland books: Ruined City by Nevil Shute The Throwback by Tom Sharpe

WARWICKSHIRE Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes Synopsis: Thomas Hughes’ novel about the mischievous but kind-hearted schoolboy Tom Brown inspired other school novels, including Frank Richards’ Billy Bunter stories and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. The novel begins at Tom’s childhood home in the Vale of the White Horse, where he spends his days out in the fields with his pony. This early idyllic setting it set up as a contrast to the stresses that Tom undergoes later at Rugby boarding school when he encounters the bully Flashman. Tom is helped through his struggles by his friends Harry ‘Scud’ East and the frail but brilliant George Arthur, whom Tom protects, and who ultimately helps Tom develop into a young gentleman ready for Oxford university. Other Warwickshire books: Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper Synopsis: It is Midwinter's Eve, the night before Will's eleventh birthday. But there is an atmosphere of fear in the familiar countryside around him. Will is about to make a shocking discovery - that he is the last person to be born with the power of the Old Ones, and as a guardian of the Light he must begin a dangerous journey to vanquish the terrifyingly evil magic of the Dark. Other Buckinghamshire books: Lark Rise To Candleford by Flora Thompson Enigma by Robert Harris

BEDFORDSHIRE My Uncle Silas by H. E. Bates Synopsis: The deeds and misdeeds of Uncle Silas, the rural reprobate, were renowned in the short stories H E Bates published in the 1930s.In this collection the stories are presented in full, accompanied by the original drawings by Edward Ardizzone that perfectly capture the little reed-thatched house atop a violet-banked lane.Over the course of ninety-five years Uncle Silas found the time to do most things: He boasted of the villains he had knocked to kingdom come as he boasted of the women whose hearts he had truly captured. Crotchety, vainglorious, occasionally wicked, he maintained a devilish spark of audacity which made him so attractive to everyone he met. Other Bedfordshire books: The Two Sisters by H. E. Bates

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham Synopsis: When Bill Masen wakes up blindfolded in hospital there is a bitter irony in his situation. Carefully removing his bandages, he realizes that he is the only person who can see: everyone else, doctors and patients alike, have been blinded by a meteor shower. Now, with civilization in chaos, the triffids - huge, venomous, large-rooted plants able to 'walk', feeding on human flesh - can have their day. Go to main Isle of Wight thread

DERBYSHIRE Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks Synopsis: In 1666, plague swept through London, driving the King and his court to Oxford, and Samuel Pepys to Greenwich, in an attempt to escape contagion. The north of England remained untouched until, in a small community of leadminers and hill farmers, a bolt of cloth arrived from the capital. The tailor who cut the cloth had no way of knowing that the damp fabric carried with it bubonic infection. So begins the Year of Wonders, in which a Pennine village of 350 souls confronts a scourge beyond remedy or understanding. Desperate, the villagers turn to sorcery, herb lore, and murderous witch-hunting. Then, led by a young and charismatic preacher, they elect to isolate themselves in a fatal quarantine. The story is told through the eyes of Anna Frith who, at only 18, must contend with the death of her family, the disintegration of her society, and the lure of a dangerous and illicit attraction. Other Derbyshire books: The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker Peveril of the Peak by Sir Walter Scott The Toll-Gate by Georgette Heyer

DORSET Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy Synopsis: Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her bold presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and tragedy ensues, threatening the stability of the whole community. The first of his works set in Wessex, Hardy's novel of swiftpassion and slow courtship is imbued with his evocative descriptions of rural life and landscapes, and with unflinching honesty about sexual relationships. Other Dorset books: The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles

WEST MIDLANDS Middlemarch by George Eliot Synopsis: George Eliot's most ambitious novel is a masterly evocation of diverse lives and changing fortunes in a provincial English community prior to the Reform Bill of 1832. Peopling its landscape are Dorothea Brooke, a young idealist whose search for intellectual fulfilment leads her into a disastrous marriage to the pedantic scholar Casaubon; the charming but tactless Dr Lydgate, whose marriage to the spendthrift beauty Rosamund and pioneering medical methods threaten to undermine his career; passionate, idealistic and penniless artist Will Ladislaw; and the religious hypocrite Bulstrode, hiding scandalous crimes from his past. As their stories interweave, George Eliot creates a richly nuanced and moving drama. Other West Midlands books: The Rotters' Club by Jonathan Coe What Hetty Did by J. L. Carr Nice Work by David Lodge

DEVON And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie Synopsis: Ten strangers, apparently with little in common, are lured to an island mansion off the coast of Devon by the mysterious U.N.Owen. Over dinner, a record begins to play, and the voice of an unseen host accuses each person of hiding a guilty secret. That evening, former reckless driver Tony Marston is found murdered by a deadly dose of cyanide. The tension escalates as the survivors realise the killer is not only among them but is preparing to strike again! and again! Alternative: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (link to book discussion thread) Other Devon books: To Serve Them All My Days by R. F. Delderfield Sense and Sensibilty by Jane Austen The Secret of Crickley Hall by James Herbert

COUNTY DURHAM Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens Synopsis: The work of a young novelist at the height of his powers, Nicholas Nickleby is one of the touchstones of the English comic novel. Around the central story of Nicholas Nickleby and the misfortunes of his family, Dickens created some of his most wonderful characters: the muddle-headed Mrs Nickleby, the gloriously theatrical Crummles, their protege Miss Petowker, the pretentious Mantalinis and the mindlessly cruel Squeers and his wife. Nicholas Nickleby's loose, haphazard progress harks back to the picaresque novels of the 18th century - particularly those of Smollett and Fielding. Yet the novel's exuberant atmosphere of romance, adventure and freedom is overshadowed by Dickens' awareness of social ills and financial and class insecurity. Other County Durham books: The Fifteen Streets by Catherine Cookson The Black Velvet Gown by Catherine Cookson The Legacy of Hartlepool Hall by Paul Torday

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens is one of the books we've chosen in the English Counties Challenge, and I thought it would be good to read along with some other people, a few chapters at a time. Janet looked it up and found out that the book was originally published in 19 monthly instalments, so that seems a good basis to start the read along. We're going to try and read one instalment per week, and we can chat about it and discuss our progress along the way. Synopsis: Around the central story of Nicholas Nickleby and the misfortunes of his family, Dickens created some of his most wonderful characters: the muddle-headed Mrs Nickleby, the gloriously theatrical Crummles, their protege Miss Petowker, the pretentious Mantalinis and the mindlessly cruel Squeers and his wife. Nicholas Nickleby's loose, haphazard progress harks back to the picaresque novels of the 18th century - particularly those of Smollett and Fielding. Yet the novel's exuberant atmosphere of romance, adventure and freedom is overshadowed by Dickens' awareness of social ills and financial and class insecurity. Please feel free to join in! This is the first time I've done a social read-a-long, so we may find we need to change how we do it as we go along, but will update this first post to say what instalment we're currently reading, with links to where each discussion starts, but please bear in mind, there will be spoilers! Part I chapters 1–4: reading until Sunday 31/8/14 - spoilers for this section start in next post (#2) Part II chapters 5–7: reading Mon 01/9 to Sun 07/9 - spoilers for this section start in this post (#9) Part III chapters 8–10: reading Mon 08/9 to Sun 14/9 - spoilers for this section start in this post (#13) Part IV chapters 11–14: reading Mon 15/9 to Sun 21/9 - spoilers for this section start in this post (#13) Part V chapters 15–17: reading Mon 22/9 to Sun 28/9 - spoilers for this section start in this post (#16) Part VI chapters 18–20: reading Mon 29/9 to Sun 05/10- spoilers for this section start in this post (#17) Part VII chapters 21–23: reading Mon 06/10 to Sun 12/10 - spoilers for this section and the next start in this post (#25) Part VIII chapters 24–26: reading Mon 13/10 to Sun 19/10 - see above Part IX chapters 27–29: reading Mon 20/10 to Sun 26/10 - spoilers for this section start in this post (#30) Part X chapters 30–33: reading Mon 27/10 to Sun 02/11 - spoilers for this section start in this post (#34) Part XI chapters 34–36: reading Mon 03/11 to Sun 09/11 - spoilers for this section start in this post (#45) Part XII chapters 37–39: reading Mon 10/11 to Sun 16/11 - spoilers for this section start in this post (#48) Part XIII chapters 40–42: reading Mon 17/11 to Sun 23/11 - spoilers for this section start in this post (#51) Part XIV chapters 43–45: reading Mon 24/11 to Sun 30/11 - spoilers for this section start in this post (#54) Part XV chapters 46–48: reading Mon 01/12 to Sun 07/12 - spoilers for this section start in this post (#56) Part XVI chapters 49–51: reading Mon 08/12 to Sun 14/12 - spoilers for this section start in this post (#57) Part XVII chapters 52–54: reading Mon 15/12 to Sun 21/12 - spoilers for this section start in this post (#60) Part XVIII chapters 55–58: reading Mon 22/12 to Sun 04/01/15 - spoilers for this section start in this post (#63) Part XIX-XX chapters 59–65: reading Mon 05/01 to Sun 11/01 - spoilers for this section start in this post (#64) All reading dates subject to change after discussion.

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot Synopsis: Fresh out of Glasgow Veterinary College, to the young James Herriot 1930s Yorkshire seems to offers an idyllic pocket of rural life in a rapidly changing world. But from his erratic new colleagues, brothers Siegfried and Tristan Farnon, to incomprehensible farmers, herds of semi-feral cattle, a pig called Nugent and an overweight Pekingese called Tricki Woo, James find he is on a learning curve as steep as the hills around him. And when he meets Helen, the beautiful daughter of a local farmer, all the training and experience in the world can’t help him… Go to main North Yorkshire thread

KENT The Darling Buds of May by H. E. Bates Synopsis: 'Home looks nice. Allus does though, don't it? Perfick' And so the Larkins - Pop, Ma, Mariette, Zinnia, Petunia, Primrose, Victoria and Montgomery - return from an outing for fish and chips and ice cream one May evening. There, amid the rustic charms of home, they discover a visitor: one Cedric Charlton, Her Majesty's inspector of taxes. Mr Charlton is visiting to find out why junk-dealer Pop hasn't paid his tax - but nothing's that simple at the Larkins. Mariette takes a shine to 'Charley' - as Pop calls him - and before long the family have introduced the uncomplaining inspector to the delights of country living: the lusty scents of wild flowers, the pleasures of a bottle of Dragon's Blood, cold cream dribbled over a bowl of strawberries and hot, hot summer nights. In fact, soon Charley can't see any reason to return to the office at all. Other Kent books: The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

CITY OF LONDON A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Synopsis: Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly old curmudgeon who spurns Christmas as a “humbug,” is given the chance to redeem himself through the intervention of four Spirits on Christmas Eve. If reading Dickens’s most beloved story doesn't put you in the true spirit of Christmas, you may be beyond redemption. As Scrooge’s nephew Fred says, “I have always thought of Christmas time...as a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.” Or as Tiny Tim put it more succinctly, “God bless us every one!” Other City of London books: Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens

HERTFORDSHIRE Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Synopsis: When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Mr Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Mr Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is a sparkling comedy of manners which explores the folly of judging by first impressions, and superbly evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life in early nineteenth-century England. Other Hertfordshire books: Howard's End by E. M. Forster

BERKSHIRE The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame Synopsis: "Ho! ho! I am the Toad, the motor-car snatcher, the prison-breaker, the Toad who always escapes!" Tired of spring cleaning, Mole ventures above ground into the sunshine and happens upon his friend Ratty. Together they picnic on the sparkling river, brave the sinister Wild Wood to visit the bad-tempered Badger, and take to the open road in a caravan with dear, silly old Toad. But when Toad's attention turns to motor cars, his reckless behaviour goes from bad to worse. Badger, Rat and Mole must save their friend from ruin, and Toad Hall from the clutches of the rascally Stoats and Weasels. Other Berkshire books: Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K. Jerome The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde Solar by Ian McEwan

LANCASHIRE Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson Synopsis: This is the story of Jeanette, adopted and brought up by her mother as one of God's elect. Zealous and passionate, she seems seems destined for life as a missionary, but then she falls for one of her converts. At sixteen, Jeanette decides to leave the church, her home and her family, for the young woman she loves. Innovative, punchy and tender, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a few days ride into the bizarre outposts of religious excess and human obsession. Other Lancashire books: The Dressmaker by Beryl Bainbridge Mist Over Pendle by Robert Neill