Corfu Capers
Novel spanning 500 years set in MURANO / VENICE
Ten Great Books set on CORFU
18th September 2024
Ten great books set on Corfu. Corfu, a verdant island in the Ionian Sea, offers a captivating blend of natural beauty, rich history, and warm hospitality. Known for its lush olive groves and cypress-studded hills, the island is a feast for the senses.
Beyond its natural charms, Corfu boasts a fascinating history. The Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a labyrinth of narrow streets lined with Venetian architecture.
Fresh seafood, olive oil, and local wines are staples of the local diet. Whether you’re seeking relaxation, exploration, or a taste of authentic Greek life, Corfu promises an unforgettable experience.
Here are ten of our favourite books set on the island.
Prospero’s Cell by Lawrence Durrell
A magical evocation of Durrell’s experiences on Corfu – before WW2. A slow sensuous life style – enjoying the elemental pleasures of daily life under the mythical Greek sun. Local villagers, intellectuals, illustrious visitors, all offer food for thought and stimulating conversation on an island Durrell suggests was the inspiration for Prospero’s island in the Tempest. The title reflects Durrell’s own identification with Prospero, who has achieved a unity of being and has developed artistic consciousness thanks to his sojourn on the island. The first of Durrell’s atmospheric writings about Greece. This book partly provided the basis for the popular TV series The Durrells.
The Greek for Love by James Chatto
The two-line ad in the Sunday Times advertising Villa Parginos in Corfu conjured an image of long afternoons drinking wine on a marble patio shaded by a grape arbour, looking out over an impossibly blue Greek sea. Instead James Chatto and his wife Wendy got a little pink bungalow with linoleum, a buzzing fluorescent light and a patio separated from the village’s main street by a wire fence.
Yet Corfu delivered so much more than their wildest fantasy had suggested. There was the intoxicating warmth of the sun, walks along sage-bordered byways, and swimming naked off an idyllic beach. There were olive trees that dropped their fruit into nets, as well as fresh apricots, grilled sardines, marinated lamb and long evenings of storytelling at the local taverna. The couple arrived as young tourists, new to each other and in love, and were captivated by the way the islanders embraced them. It was their deep connection to Corfu and its people that later sustained them through the darkest tragedy, just as it had carried them into the most wonderful love.
My Corfu Love Story by Effrosyni Moschoudi
Spyri forever lives in the past, haunted by old memories. This summer, she meets a man she once loved, and he is about to change everything…
Spyri, a half-Greek restauranteur in her early thirties, is back on the island of Corfu, staying in her grandmother’s village home for a few days to decompress from her busy life in London. Her nostalgia for the good old summer days hit her upon her return.
When she hears that Markos, the one she never forgot, is staying at the village, she becomes excited. Sparks begin to fly when they meet, but Markos has his own hurts of the past to deal with…
The Summer Trip by Isabelle Broom
What if your life worked out perfectly . . . for someone else?
It’s been 18 years since Ava spent the summer on the Greek island of Corfu, but she has never forgotten what happened during those months – or who she left behind.
Now single, estranged from her family, and preparing to wave her daughter off to university, Ava’s life seems a million miles away from the one she dreamed about as a teenager – a life now being lived by her sister instead.
When Ava decides to return to Corfu for the summer, she knows she must finally face the place and the people that broke her heart. But with old resentments festering, long-buried secrets lurking, and familiar feelings resurfacing, it looks set to be a holiday that will change all their lives forever. . .
Truly Madly Greekly by Mandy Baggot
Capable, confident and career-driven, Ellen had her dream job and a marriage proposal from boyfriend Ross. Life was good, her future set. Until it wasn’t and everything fell apart…
Whisked off to the beautiful island of Corfu to plan her sister Lacey’s big, fat, Greek wedding, Ellen is hoping some time out will help clear her head and heal her heart. But letting go of her past is not going to be easy.
With Lacey in full on Bridezilla mode, Ellen is soon distracted from her own problems. And when the all-inclusive treats on offer at hotel Blue Vue include one gorgeous, brooding Adonis – Yan – Ellen finds him difficult to resist.
But Ellen isn’t looking for love or lust, or anything involving too much ouzo…or is she?
The Holiday by Erica James
Torn between struggling to live up to the expectations of being a Modern Woman and ridding herself of the effect of a repressed upbringing, Izzy Jordan would be the first to admit that it’s time to take stock of her life. She’s thirty-one, with a teaching career on the skids – not surprising, really, given that she harbours a strong desire to lock her pupils in the art room cupboard and throw away the key. She also has a manipulative mother and an ex-boyfriend whose parting shot was to tell her she was boring in bed!
So when she’s invited to spend the summer on Corfu and is offered the chance of a no-strings holiday romance with the irresistible Theo, what should she do? Go for it, or listen to the voice of Modern Woman and tell him to sling his hook? Just as she thinks she’s made up her mind, along comes Mark, whose turbulent past sets in motion a series of dramatic events…
A House in Corfu by Emma Tennant
A House in Corfu is the story of one of the most beautiful places on earth, still astonishingly unspoilt, on the west coast of Corfu. In the early 1960s, Emma Tennant’s parents, on a cruise, spotted a magical bay and decided to build a house there. This book is the story of that house, Rovinia, set in 42 hectares of land above the bay where legend has it Ulysses was shipwrecked and found by Nausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous. It is also the story of the people who have been at Rovinia since the feast in the grove at the time of putting on the roof – Maria, a miraculous cook and the presiding spirit of the house, and her husband Thodoros – and of the inhabitants of the local village, high on the hill above the bay. Full of colour and contrast, A House in Corfu shows the huge changes in island life since the time of the building of the house, and celebrates, equally, the joy of belonging to a timeless world: the world of vine, olive and sea.
Corfu Capers by Joy Skye
Can a holiday cure a broken heart?
For divorcée Kate Delaney, it’s time to show the world that she can get along just fine without a man.
Embracing her son’s desire to propose to his girlfriend with her usual overzealous planning, she organizes a vacation to Corfu and plots the ‘big moment’.
But when her plans start to fall apart with hilarious consequences, she is thrown together with the dashing Pericles and is surprised to find herself relaxing into the Greek way of life.
Can this holiday really be about to change her future, and offer her a second chance of love?
Sleeping Dogs by Thomas Mogford
An old friend persuades Gibraltarian lawyer Spike Sanguinetti to take a well-earned rest on Corfu’s beautiful north-east coast. But when the bloodied body of a young Albanian is found and a local man accused of his murder, Spike reluctantly agrees to take the case. Beneath the island’s veneer of wealth and privilege Spike uncovers truths so damaging that those involved will go to any lengths to protect them. And when a vulnerable young woman disappears, Spike knows that there are some sleeping dogs he cannot let lie…
Stars of Fortune by Nora Roberts
Sasha Riggs is a reclusive artist, haunted by vivid dreams and nightmares that she turns into extraordinary paintings. Desperate to understand her visions, she finds herself drawn to the Greek island of Corfu.
She has only just arrived when she encounters Bran Killian, an Irish magician with a warm charisma and secrets dancing in his eyes. Sasha has never met Bran before, but she knows him only too well – because this is the man from her dreams. The man she has painted over and over again. The man she seems fated to be with…if she can find the courage to accept who she really is.
Sasha soon discovers that four other strangers have been lured to the island. Like Bran, they are all desperately searching for a mysterious jewel known as the fire star – before it falls into the wrong hands. Together, they might just succeed. But first they must learn to trust one another, and reveal their deepest secrets.
On the sun-drenched island of Corfu, love and magic are sparked into life. And for Sasha, nothing will ever be the same again.
Enjoy our Ten Great Books set in Corfu! If we’ve missed any of your favourites please add them in Comments below…
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