Psychological thriller set in Berlin
GIVEAWAY! The 6 novels shortlisted for the Stanfords Travel Writing Awards 2019 (Fiction, With a Sense of Place)
24th February 2019
If you have been following us over the last couple of months, you will know that TripFiction’s Tina has been on the panel, whittling down the 6 novels shortlisted for the Stanfords Travel Writing Awards 2019, Category: Fiction, With a Sense of Place.
We have a winning novel, it was agreed at a meeting on the 15th February and the title will be announced by Tina at the Awards Ceremony in London on 28th February 2019.
The contenders are (in no particular order!):
- The Madonna of the Mountains by Elise Valmorbida (The Veneto, Italy)
- Kintu by Jennifer Nansubugu Makumbi (Uganda)
- House of Stone by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma (Zimbabwe/Rhodesia)
- Ponti by Sharlene Teo (Singapore)
- Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (Tokyo)
- Woman At Sea by Catherine Poulain (Alaska/North Pacific)
And we now have the full set to giveaway for one lucky winner!!
How to enter:
Just tell us in the Comments below which novel you have read that has really evoked a sense of place for you! It’s as easy as that! Do this by midnight on 9th March 2019 and the first name out of the hat will be sent the books! UK ONLY
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Linnie’s name came out of the hat this morning!!!
I’ve just read the Cornershop at Cockleberry Bay by Nicola May. Set in a quaint coastal Devon village, her writing allowed city girl me to imagine the scenery perfectly.
The Siege by Helen Dunmore is one of my all-time favourite novels. It is a vivid account of a family’s survival in Leningrad during the WWII siege – such a detailed, evocative description of the visceral cold and the plight of the city, breathtaking in its evocative power. When you read it you are there.
Woman at Sea is now on my list! I’ve been reading Man Mission by Eytan Uliel, he writes of a group of men who are travelling all over the world. Each chapter is a new destination. It’s very good, I have really enjoyed it!
The Longing of the Dervish by Hammour Ziada.
Love, longing and conflict in 19th century Sudan. Evocative, lyrical.
Most recently, The Beginning of Spring by
Penelope Fitzgerald, set in Moscow in the 1910s. I could feel the cold of a Moscow winter, and the joy of eventually opening the windows to spring when the family “unseals” the house.
The Muse by Jessie Burton. Set during the Spanish civil war it has both a brilliant sense of place and the period it’s set in.
The forest in Dark Pines by Will Dean.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte takes me to the wild moors of Yorkshire.
“Red Snow” by Will Dean has probably been the best book with a sense of place that I have read in the last few years, It was so good I had to read it twice and get his first book “Dark Pines” as well, Sitting here on a surprisingly warm February day it is hard to imagine the bitter cold and isolation of the Swedish elk forest, I would like to visit but I think it would have to be in the summer and I look forward to Will’s third book which will be set in summer time,
For me it has to be, The Wolves of Leninsky Prospekt by Sarah Armstrong.
Set in 1970’s Russia there is a real feel of being there. Areas of Moscow totally changing over night with all trace of them vanished not even to be spoken about.
Most recently it’s The Dry that transported me to the Australian interior, I’ve read it several times now & it never fails to make me desperately thirsty.
Not as exciting as some far out exotic place but for me it’s The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club – felt transported to the beautiful Kent coast and could literally hear the sound of the sea!
The Geography of Friendship… glaring sun, flora and fauna as far as the eye can see and at one with the elements and wildlife.
The Poldark novels always transport me to Cornwall.
I think all of Dinah Jefferies books transport you to the country they are set in – and, apart from the story itself, you learn about the food, culture, etc. too.
The Essex Serpent had a great sense of place. I could really envisage the landscape of a place I’ve never visited.
Oh, has to be Red Snow by Will Dean – made me so cold!!
The eight mountains by Paolo Cognetti, set in the Italian alps, it is breathtaking for both the setting and the story
Just finished The Snow Gypsy by Lindsay Jayne Ashford. It is set in Spain after WWII in small mountainous towns. Really enjoyed it.
I have read so many books that make me feel that I am actually in the place where the book is set!
The most recent is ‘Under the Udala Tree’ by Chinelo Okparanto. Set in Northern Nigeria, it is the story of a young girl who finds herself sexually attracted to another girl of a different tribe. Society not only condemns her lesbianism, but also her having a relationship with someone not from the same tribe.
Dreaming of Tuscany made me want to jump on a plane; the scents, the food and the people – fabulous.
The Axeman’s Jazz by Ray Celestine. It’s about New Orleans, a fabulous city I’ve had the fortune to visit twice
Under A Blood Red Sky by Kate Furnivall, it was such a descriptive and memorable read.
The Familiars by Stacey Halls was amazing and took you to the time and place of the Pendle witch trials. Very atmospheric!