First appearing in
Good Woodsand then published in three volumes by Richard Bentley and Son in 1886,
The Haven Under the Hillhas 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.]