The literary expert explores Cornwall and the dramatic landscape that helped inspire Daphne du Maurier to create bestsellers such as Rebecca and Jamaica Inn. Mariella investigates the particular dangers and mysteries of Cornwall that brought du Maurier to create such eerie tales, some of which took Hollywood by storm. She discovers that aerial attacks on Cornwall in World War II gave du Maurier the idea for The Birds, that would go on to be a landmark movie by Hitchcock. She ventures to Bodmin Moor, where du Maurier once got lost, inspiring her tale of murderous smugglers. She also reveals why fans of Rebecca who come to visit the places that inspired the novel are actually visiting the wrong locations.

The literary expert explores Yorkshire and the dramatic landscape that inspired the world-famous Brontë sisters - Charlotte, Anne and Emily - to write some of their much-loved novels. She delves into their life stories and the harsh realities of the past, and discovers how a dramatic landslide may be the key to Emily's depiction of the moors in Wuthering Heights, and how the high child mortality rate in the Brontë home town of Haworth might have influenced Jane Eyre.