No plane necessary.
Two things that just make sense together? Delicious books and European summers.
Whether it’s a frothy beach read to devour beneath the Italian sun or a book set in Europe for an armchair escape from wherever you are, the power of a good page-turner to enhance – or imagine – a holiday is something else.
And if you’re after a literary staycation to sweep you away to warmer days on the Mediterranean, these addictive novels will do just that – one page at a time, no plane necessary.
Bon voyage!
Books Set in Italy
1. The Gentleman from Peru by André Aciman
Written by the bestselling author of Call Me By Your Name, this sun-drenched Amalfi Coast story begins when a group of friends finds themselves stranded at a luxury hotel while their boat is being repaired. There, they cannot help but notice the nightly habits of another hotel guest – an elegant older gentleman who smokes on the verandah every night. Their intrigue only grows after the enigmatic traveller appears to heal one of the friends’ injured shoulders with a mere touch, leaving them unprepared for the mystical abilities and life-changing tale he will impart to one of the friends in particular.
2. Chasing the Italian Dream by Jo Thomas
Prepare to be whisked away to the warmth and lemon-scented bliss of southern Italy. Chasing the Italian Dream follows Lucia, a hardworking lawyer from Wales who retreats to her grandparents’ house near Naples for a well-earned break while waiting for a big promotion to land. Discovering her nonno is retiring from their family pizzeria and needs to sell, Lucia cannot fathom the idea – especially when she finds out her not-exactly-ex-husband Giacomo wants to get his hands on it. When bad news from home arrives, Lucia must decide what she truly wants for her life and if she’ll finally follow her dreams. Pair it with a Margherita for maximum enjoyment.
3. The Italian Marriage by Jenna Lo Bianco
Fans of the ‘fake marriage’ trope – this one’s for you. With no way to get around a 15th-century clause preventing his inheritance of his family’s estate and his tense relationship with his father besides getting married, workaholic lawyer Matthew D’Adamo needs a wife. Cue: Sarah Browne, a goes-with-the-wind events manager who needs a break from the endless exhaustion of her endometriosis and the ticking of her biological clock. Armed with an airtight prenup, the ‘newlyweds’ move to Florence to fulfil the clause and obtain the estate. There are just two problems: they have never met – and someone else is after the D’Adamo fortune. A competition, a marriage of convenience, and a romp through Florence? Sold.
Books Set in France
4. The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux by Samantha Vérant
Perfect for Under The Tuscan Sun fans, French-born American chef Sophie Valroux has always dreamt of being among the 1% of female chefs running a Michelin-starred restaurant. After years of tough training and summers in Toulouse cooking with her grandmother, she’s finally on the brink of getting all she’s ever wanted – until sabotage by a fellow chef sees her fired and her reputation down the drain. Making matters worse, her grandmother has had a stroke, so she catches the next flight to France, where she finds out her quaint childhood home has become a luxurious château with a vineyard and two restaurants. As she attempts to rediscover her confidence in the kitchen, Sophie learns just how far people will go for love and success – and how dreams evolve in ways you least expect.
5. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Set on the Cote d'Azur in the 1920s, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s fourth and final novel Tender is the Night is a captivating dissection of glamour, wealth, and class amongst a group of affluent Americans holidaying on the French Riviera. A summer read that’s leisurely yet meaty, the tragic romance chronicles the complex entanglement between a young actress, Rosemary Hoyt, and a stylish American couple, Dick and Nicole – a promising young psychiatrist whose wealthy wife is also his patient.
6. Thirty Days in Paris by Veronica Henry
Serving page upon page of Parisian escapism, protagonist Juliet is your ticket to the City of Lights without leaving your couch – brie and baguette included. Freshly separated from her husband and having long left a piece of her heart in Paris, she books an attic apartment near Notre Dame and leaves London without a second thought. Hit with nostalgia when she arrives, it all rushes back to her: the cafés, the pastries, the handsome boy and his mesmerising gaze – and the secret she’s been keeping for over two decades. Realising she cannot move ahead without first looking back, the next thirty days are set to change everything.
Books Set in Spain
7. Our Last Days in Barcelona by Chanel Cleeton
If period dramas are your cup of café con leche, consider Our Last Days in Barcelona a brew worth savouring. Following two storylines, it begins in 1964 Barcelona with Isabel Perez, a young woman exiled from Cuba after the revolution in search of her missing sister Beatriz. Joining an unlikely ally along the way, she is plunged into her sister’s dark world of espionage, where she uncovers a piece of family history that changes her whole world. Shifting to 1936, the second storyline follows their mother Alicia Perez, a then-young wife and mother fleeing Cuba and a marriage in jeopardy for a Spain on the cusp of civil war. Their lives poignantly intertwine, with both mother and daughter having to choose between family duty and following their hearts.
8. The Spanish House by Cherry Radford
A beach-ready rom-com, The Spanish House goes down like a tinto de verano on a sweltering summer’s day. Actress Juliana makes a humble living as an ‘ethnic’ film and TV extra, despite her only ties to her Spanish heritage being her classes, cacti, and a few muddled memories of a Spanish mother she hasn’t seen since she was seven. Gifted the chance to reconnect with her roots by house-sitting her Uncle Arturo’s home on the Andalucían coast, Juliana is thrilled – especially when he says it will all be hers if she meets ten life-enhancing ‘Conditions’ within three months. However, family secrets also await in Spain, as well as longstanding rivalries, and with one of the conditions being that she has to get along with her neighbours – hello, moody but ruggedly handsome artist – things are going to be a lot harder than she bargained for.
9. Retreat to the Spanish Sun by Jo Thomas
Suffocating in a downsized house after her three grown-up children return home all at once, Eliza is fresh out of peace to finish her online course and do her job. Done sharing a bed with her eldest daughter – and her pug – an ad on her laptop calling for house-sitters catches her eye. Before long, she finds herself in a farmhouse in southern Spain, taking care of the owner’s Iberian pigs and discovering a world of secret gastronomy societies – and her long-lost passion for life and love – along the way. Like The Holiday meets Eat, Pray, Love, it’s a feel-good book brimming with scrumptious tapas, Spanish sunshine, and a sweet splash of romance to round it all off.
Books Set in Greece
10. A Greek Island Escape by Kate Frost
Santorini out of reach? A Greek Island Escape is exactly what it says on the tin. Xanthe Fox has everything going for her: a hot celebrity boyfriend, the dream job, and a shiny future – until The Heartbreak shatters her perfect picture. Enter: a Greek godmother who leaves her a villa on the idyllic island of Kefalonia, giving Xanthe a chance to leave her pain in London for the summer and figure out her future. While revisiting her passions and renovating her godmother’s charming villa, she learns more about her estranged Greek family – despite some neighbours less than thrilled by her presence. Throw in a sexy builder and a handsome, brooding gardener, and you have the recipe for a frothy summer romance with a side of island mystery.
11. The Fury by Alex Michaelides
By the bestselling author of BookTok favourite, The Silent Patient, The Fury is a five-act ‘whodunit’ with beach read appeal. Told by intriguing narrator Elliott Chase, the tale of murder – or perhaps one of love, he leaves it up to you to decide – sees Lana Farrar, a reclusive former film star and one of the world’s most famous women invite her closest friends for a spontaneous trip to her private Greek Island. But after wild Aegean winds – known as to menos, or ‘the fury’ – blow through the utopian isle, a body is found lying in the pool of blood. With the police unable to arrive until the winds pass, the seven friends start looking at one another to see if a killer walks among them.
12. Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry
Whether you’re a fan of Greek mythology or not, comedian Stephan Fry’s modern take on its most famous tales is packed with laugh-out-loud moments you won’t see coming. We promise no history knowledge is required to enjoy this collection of riotous stories covering the Creation and beyond, with Fry’s witty, sardonic voice breathing new life and banter into the gods and goddesses. Funny yet fascinating, the book also paints an incredible visual of Ancient Greece and how the people explained the world through mythology.
