 Walpole 's output was large and varied . Between 1909 and 1941 he wrote thirty @-@ six novels , five volumes of short stories , two original plays and three volumes of memoirs . His range included disturbing studies of the <unk> , children 's stories and historical fiction , most notably his Herries Chronicle series , set in the Lake District . He worked in Hollywood writing scenarios for two Metro @-@ Goldwyn @-@ Mayer films in the 1930s , and played a cameo in the 1935 version of David Copperfield . 
