Martin Chuzzlewit | Image from the BBC
Who knew that Finchley would turn out to be a hotbed of literary genius and bookish escapes?
Here are 9 Finchley book facts to kick off your day:
- In Charles Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop Mr Garland, one of the principal characters lives in Abel Cottage, Finchley. And Dickens found a quiet place for writing Martin Chuzzlewit at Cobley’s Farm in North Finchley.
- A Victorian female poet called Jane Rutland, lived in Finchley. She published a book of popular verse, Poems Grave and Gay from the Finchley Woods. One of the poems mentions a laburnum flowering by a Squire’s back wall. This is most likely Finchley Manor House, now the Sternberg Centre.
- Did you read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe as a kid? We don’t know where the Pevenises are from in the book. But in the Disney film series The Chronicles of Narnia, they’re from Finchley.
- Moving to the 20th century, author Will Self grew up between East Finchley and Hampstead Garden Suburb. He went to Christ’s College School before going up to Oxford.
- Award-winning local author Dina Liefer recently published a children’s book And Eddy Had An Egg is themed around fussy eaters.
- Another award-winning local author, Ariel Khan’s work of literary fiction, Raising Sparks is a dramatic work of magic realism. He’s head down in his second novel.
- If you want to stretch your legs you can take a Literary Finchley Walk.
- Or if you’d prefer to curl up on the sofa with a Finchley-themed tome, then why not try the North Finchley Writers’ Club.
- And don’t forget the Princes Little Library if you want to inspire your kids with literary love.
In the story of Finchley’s literary legacy, you are the protagonist. Every page turned is a new adventure waiting to be written.
We think we’ve just got the first chapter on Finchley’s current writers.📚
So if you are, or you know a published author, we’d love to hear from you.