Mary Linskill, The Haven Under the Hill

Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

First appearing in

Good Woods

and then published in three volumes by Richard Bentley and Son in 1886,

The Haven Under the Hill

has been acclaimed for its graphic depiction of the historic and picturesque coastal town of Whitby in North Yorkshire. It is also the most autobiographical of Linskill’s novels.

The parallels with the author’s own life are immediately apparent, starting with the novel’s setting of Hild’s Haven and Linskill’s home of Whitby. Both fictive and real places were, as Linskill describes in the novel from information from Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, founded by St Hild (614-680), an abbess from a Northumbrian family who built the Abbey of Steonshalh (the Old English name for Whitby; the Vikings changed the name after their invasion in 1078). Besides being

1848 words

Citation: Ayres, Brenda. "The Haven Under the Hill". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 June 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=30665, accessed 06 October 2024.]

30665 The Haven Under the Hill 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.