The Essay

Five more writers go on five reflective, restorative and often playful journeys in search of the final resting places of their literary heroes. Today Tracy Chevalier strolls to Stinsford, the Dorset village where Thomas Hardy’s heart is poetically buried separately from his body at Poets' Corner, Westminster – echoing the writer’s divided self. Chevalier was born in America but now lives in Hardy's beloved home county, Dorset. She has written 11 novels, including Girl with a Pearl Earring, which was adapted into a film of the same name. Producer: Ciaran Bermingham