Seven Years by Peter Stamm
Five Great Books set in NORTHERN ITALY
Ten Great Books set in BAVARIA
2nd January 2026
Ten great books set in Bavaria.
Bavaria, Germany’s largest and southernmost state, is a region where deep-rooted traditions meet modern economic power. Renowned for its stunning Alpine scenery, the Bavarian Alps offer world-class skiing and hiking, while the rolling hills of the Alpine Foreland are dotted with pristine lakes like Chiemsee and Starnberg. The region is synonymous with iconic fairy-tale architecture, most notably King Ludwig II’s Neuschwanstein Castle, which overlooks the dramatic Hohenschwangau valley.
The state capital, Munich, serves as a global hub for technology and automotive industries while remaining famous for its convivial beer gardens and the annual Oktoberfest. Bavaria’s distinct cultural identity is further reflected in its traditional attire, hearty gastronomy, and the historic prominence of its Catholic heritage and former monarchy.
Tasting Sunlight by Ewald Arenz
Teenager Sally has just run away from a clinic where she to be treated for anorexia. She’s furious with everything and everyone, and wants to be left in peace.
Liss is in her forties, living alone on a large farm that she runs single-handedly. She has little contact with the outside world, and no need for other people.
From their first meeting, Sally realises that Liss isn’t like other adults; she expects nothing of Sally and simply accepts who she is, offering her a bed for the night with no questions asked.
That night becomes weeks and then months, as an unlikely friendship develops and these two damaged women slowly open up – connecting to each other, reconnecting with themselves, and facing the darkness in their pasts through their shared work on the land.
Achingly beautiful, profound, invigorating and uplifting, Tasting Sunlight is a story of friendship across generations, of love and acceptance, of the power of nature to heal and transform, and the goodness that surrounds us, if only we take time to see it…
Dear Child by Romy Haussman
A windowless shack in the woods. Lena’s life and that of her two children follows the rules set by their captor, the father: meals, bathroom visits, study time are strictly scheduled and meticulously observed. He protects his family from the dangers lurking in the outside world and makes sure that his children will always have a mother to look after them.
One day Lena manages to flee – but the nightmare continues. It seems as if her tormentor wants to get back what belongs to him. And then there is the question whether she really is the woman called ‘Lena’, who disappeared without a trace over thirteen years ago. The police and Lena’s family are all desperately trying to piece together a puzzle that doesn’t quite seem to fit.
The Good Cop by Peter Steiner
In a world of growing nationalism, a quiet few are determined to resist. This gripping historical mystery explores the darkest days of the early 20th century.
Munich, 1920. Detective Willi Geismeier has a problem: how do you uphold the law when the law goes bad? The First World War has been lost and Germany is in turmoil. The new government in Berlin is weak. The police and courts are corrupt. Fascists and Communists are fighting in the streets. People want a savior, someone who can make Germany great again. To many, Adolf Hitler seems perfect for the job.
When the offices of a Munich newspaper are bombed, Willi Geismeier investigates, but as it gets political, he is taken off the case. Willi continues to ask questions, but when his pursuit of the truth itself becomes a crime, his career – and his life – are in grave danger.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Nine-year-old Liesel lives with her foster family on Himmel Street in Molching, a fictional village just outside non-ficitonal Munich, during the dark days of the Third Reich. Her Communist parents have been transported to a concentration camp, and during the funeral for her brother, she manages to steal a macabre book: it is, in fact, a gravediggers’ instruction manual. This is the first of many books which will pass through her hands as the carnage of the Second World War begins to hungrily claim lives. Both Liesel and her fellow inhabitants of Himmel Street will find themselves changed by both words on the printed page and the horrendous events happening around them.
Paula by Sandra Hoffmann
Sandra Hoffmann‘s Paula is a moving piece of autofiction about the writer’s relationship to her grandmother, a devout Swabian Catholic who refused to reveal who fathered her child in 1946. Growing up in a family where silence reigns, Hoffmann asks: What kind of person, what kind of writer, does this environment produce?
Spoils of Victory by John A Connell
From the author of Ruins of War comes an electrifying novel featuring U.S. Army criminal investigator Mason Collins, set in the chaos of post-World War II Germany. When the Third Reich collapsed, the small town Garmisch-Partenkirchen became the home of fleeing war criminals, making it the final depository for the Nazis’ stolen riches. There are fortunes to be made on the black market. Murder, extortion, and corruption have become the norm.
It’s a perfect storm for a criminal investigator like Mason Collins, especially when his friend, CIC Agent John Winstone, claims that a group of powerful men are taking over the lucrative trade. But before he can fully explain, Winstone—and his girlfriend— are brutally murdered.
Determined to uncover the truth, Mason plunges into a shadowy labyrinth of co-conspirators including former SS and Gestapo officers, U.S. Army OSS officers, and liberated Polish POWs.
As both witnesses and evidence begin disappearing, it becomes obvious that someone on high is pulling strings to stifle the investigation—and that Mason must feel his way in the darkness if he is going to find out who in town has the most to gain—and the most to lose…
Munich Airport by Greg Baxter
An American expat in London, about to enter a meeting, takes a phone call. The caller is a German policewoman. The news she has to convey is almost incomprehensible: the man’s sister, Miriam, has been found dead in her Berlin flat, of starvation. Three weeks later, the man, his elderly father, and an American consular official find themselves in an almost unbearably strange place: a fogbound Munich Airport, where Miriam’s coffin is to be loaded onto a commercial jet. Greg Baxter’s extraordinary novel tells the story of these three people over those three weeks of waiting for Miriam’s body to be released, sifting through her possessions, and trying to work out what could have led her to her awful death.
Seven Years by Peter Stamm
Alex has spent the majority of his adult life torn between two very different women-and he can’t make up his mind. Sonia, his wife and business partner, is everything a man would want. Intelligent, beautiful, charming, and ambitious, she worked tirelessly alongside him to open their architecture firm and to build a life of luxury. But when the seven-year itch sets in, their exhaustion at working long hours coupled with their failed attempts at starting a family get the best of them. Alex soon finds himself kindling an affair with his college lover, Ivona. The young Polish woman who worked in a Catholic mission is the polar opposite of Sonia: dull, passive, taciturn, and plain. Despite having little in common with Ivona, Alex is inexplicably drawn to her while despising himself for it. Torn between his highbrow marriage and his lowbrow affair, Alex is stuck within a spiraling threesome. But when Ivona becomes pregnant, life takes an unexpected turn, and Alex is puzzled more than ever by the mysteries of his heart. Peter Stamm, one of Switzerland’s most acclaimed writers, is at his best exploring the complexities of human relationships. Seven Years is a distinct, sobering, and bold novel about the impositions of happiness in the quest for love.
Munich by Robert Harris
September 1938
Hitler is determined to start a war.
Chamberlain is desperate to preserve the peace.
The issue is to be decided in a city that will forever afterwards be notorious for what takes place there.
Munich.
As Chamberlain’s plane judders over the Channel and the Führer’s train steams relentlessly south from Berlin, two young men travel with secrets of their own.
Hugh Legat is one of Chamberlain’s private secretaries; Paul Hartmann a German diplomat and member of the anti-Hitler resistance. Great friends at Oxford before Hitler came to power, they haven’t seen one another since they were last in Munich six years earlier. Now, as the future of Europe hangs in the balance, their paths are destined to cross again.
When the stakes are this high, who are you willing to betray? Your friends, your family, your country or your conscience?
One Alpen Day by Michele Davenport-Dutton
All she wants in life… is to be a mom.
All he wants in life… is for his two young children to have a loving mom…
Newly divorced and still struggling with her pregnancy losses and failed marriage, Angela Sutton leaves L.A. to return to her hometown Grainau, Germany where she assists her Aunt Terese in running the family bakery. One day, the famous Hollywood actor, Mason Glade, whom Angela has had a major crush on, enters the bakery. Angela can’t believe her eyes. What is he doing in her sleepy Alpine village? Is he shooting a movie? What Angela does know is that Mason has two young children with his estranged, alcoholic wife, Camila. Has fate brought Angela and Mason together in the same village? Would Mason be interested in someone like her? Could they possibly have a future together?
Mason Glade is a simple man who wants a simple life with a warm, loving wife and a mother for his two children. Sure, he’s a famous Hollywood actor and well-loved, but he’s tired of his estranged, alcoholic wife, Camila, being plastered on every tabloid magazine. It’s embarrassing for him, but mostly for his two young kids whom they share together. When Camila enters rehab, Mason decides he needs a break and has to get away, somewhere far. So, he packs up his kids and their nanny and heads to Grainau, Germany, a small village in the Bavarian alps. There he meets a beautiful German girl, Angela, who works at her aunt’s bakery. He’s smitten with her and so are his kids. He sees how great Angela is with them. Slowly, he’s falling for her. Will he divorce Camila and pursue Angela or is going to give Camila one last try?
Enjoy our selection of books set in Bavaria!
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