The 19th century seems long ago and far away. But a weekend circuit visiting the homes of five of the most influential French writers of the period shows just how significant they were to their literary output.

Clockwise from top left: Victor Hugo; Colette; Émile Zola; George Sand; Marcel Proust.

1.
La Maison de Colette

The little Burgundy village of Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye seems an unlikely cradle for Sidonie-Gabrielle Goudeket, or Colette, as France’s most famous female author—who would one day be nominated for a Nobel Prize and buried in a majestic state funeral—came to be known.