A dark thriller set mainly in GLASGOW
Novel ideas in the easyJet Traveller magazine (where to REALLY get lost in a good book)
3rd November 2018
If you are travelling with easyJet during November 2018 then you will delighted to see their interest in literary wanderlust! Jonny Ensall, the editor of their inflight magazine, poses the question “Why not disappear into a book?” And what a good question that is! He is advocating striding through the pages of your favourite holiday read and how might even end up evading the spies in the streets of Le Carré’s Berlin or stopping off at the Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland… Fundamentally, he says, “..travel and literature go together like Ron and Hermione…”.
We totally agree, there is no better way to get under the skin of a place than seeing the location through the eyes of an author!
easyJet Traveller has taken inspiration from literary classics (AND The Da Vinci Code!), and in the first instance hand over to author Jessie Burton (author of The Miniaturist, check out our interview with her here) who talks about travel and writing:
Travel of course enables us to breathe, see new things and enjoy new experiences, she says. You can also travel anywhere, especially through the pages of a book. For her the experiences of travel are reflected in her novels and she writes more when she is on holiday than she does at home because she is free of daily routine and responsibilities. Of course, seeing Petronella Oortman’s cabinet house in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam gave her the inspiration for her first novel, The Miniaturist. Her second novel, The Muse was inspired by trips to Southern Spain (which, obviously, she needed to visit several times to imbibe the feel of the setting). And if all else fails, a few hours by the pool never really go amiss…
The five books chosen by easyJet Traveller magazine – travel for the price of a paperback!
1. Heidi by Johanna Spyri, set in Switzerland
“The fresh green mountain-side was bathed in brilliant sunlight… Heidi was wild with joy”
The book has sold more than 50 million copies and has become a global poster for old fashioned Alpine cuteness. Little orphan Heidi goes to live high in the Alps with her gruff grandfather and brings happiness to all who know her on the mountain. When Heidi goes to Frankfurt to work in a wealthy household, she dreams of returning to the mountains and meadows, her friend Peter, and her beloved grandfather.
2. The Miniaturist by Jesse Burton, set in Amsterdam
“Never has she seen things like this – the craftsmanship, the care, the beauty of these objects”
On an autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman knocks at the door of a grand house in the wealthiest quarter of Amsterdam. She has come from the country to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt, but instead she is met by his sharp-tongued sister, Marin. Only later does Johannes appear and present her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. It is to be furnished by an elusive miniaturist, whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in unexpected ways . . . Nella is at first mystified by the closed world of the Brandt household, but as she uncovers its secrets she realizes the escalating dangers that await them all.
3. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, set in La Mancha, Spain
“Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking great giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them”
Widely regarded as the world’s first modern novel, and one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written, Don Quixote chronicles the famous picaresque adventures of the noble knight-errant Don Quixote de La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through sixteenth-century Spain.
4. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, Latin Quarter (5/6 ème), Paris
“We ate well and cheaply and drank well and cheaply and sleep well and warm together”
The novel brilliantly evokes the exuberant mood of Paris after World War I and the unbridled creativity and enthusiasm that Hemingway himself experienced. In the world of letters it is a unique insight into a great literary generation, by one of the best American writers of the twentieth century.
5. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, set in England, Paris and Rosslyn Chapel, Scotland
A murder in the silent after-hours halls of the Louvre museum reveals a sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected by a clandestine society since the days of Christ. The victim is a high-ranking agent of this ancient society who, in the moments before his death, manages to leave gruesome clues at the scene that only his granddaughter, noted cryptographer Sophie Neveu, and Robert Langdon, a famed symbologist, can untangle.The duo become both suspects and detectives searching not only for Neveu’s grandfather’s murderer, but also the stunning secret of the ages he was charged to protect. Mere steps ahead of the authorities and the deadly competition, the mystery leads Neveu and Langdon on a breathless flight through France, England and history itself.
(And in this recent article in The Times “Da Vinci Code’s Rosslyn Chapel continues to grip tourists imagination” – people, having read the book, are still drawn to visit the actual setting. And that is perfect literary wanderlust!)
So, easyJet’s Traveller magazine has chosen their 5 literary classics. Which titles would you choose? Tell us in the Comments box below…
Tina for the TripFiction Team
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Don Q and Moveable Feast are great choices, could plan itinerary with them, as friends have done with the Louise Penny novels, gives structure to a trip. I’m not sure where I’d go, following which book. One of my favorite books ever is “Sandro of Chegem” by Fazil Iskander, an Abkhazian who writes in Russian. When I was in Georgia, separated by hideous civil war from Abkazia, I wanted to at least visit Sukumi where Iskander set much of the story, but wasn’t allowed to. Disappointed.