Novel set in LONDON and PARIS
Ten Great Books set on Holiday Islands
22nd May 2024
Ten great books set on holiday islands. As the Northern Hemisphere Summer gets under way, our thoughts turn to holidays. Many of us, both in Europe and North America will head off to our favourite holiday islands – to spend days on beaches and evenings in local restaurants. We will relax and prepare ourselves for the year ahead.
Here we have selected ten great books located in each of ten favourite holiday islands.
Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis – CRETE
Set before the start of the First World War, this moving fable sees a young English writer set out to Crete to claim a small inheritance. But when he arrives, he meets Alexis Zorba, a middle-aged Greek man with a zest for life. Zorba has had a family and many lovers, has fought in the Balkan wars, has lived and loved – he is a simple but deep man who lives every moment fully and without shame. As their friendship develops, the Englishman is gradually won over, transformed and inspired along with the reader.
Sugar in the Blood by Andrea Stuart – BARBADOS
In the late 1640s, Andrea Stuart’s earliest known maternal ancestor set sail from England, lured by the promise of the New World, to settle in Barbados where he fell by chance into the lucrative life of a sugar plantation owner.With George Ashby’s first crop, the cane revolution was underway and would go on to transform the Caribbean into an archipelago of riches, establishing a thriving worldwide industry that bound together ambitious white entrepreneurs and enslaved black workers.As it grew, this sweet colonial trade fuelled the Enlightenment and financed the Industrial Revolution, but it also had more direct, less palatable consequences for the individuals caught up in it, consequences that still haunt the author’s past.In this unique personal history, Andrea Stuart follows the thread of her own family’s involvement with sugar through successive generations, telling a story of insatiable greed and forbidden love, of abuse and liberation.
Island Apart by Steven Raichlen – MARTHA’S VINEYARD
From the celebrated author of Planet Barbecue and How to Grill comes a surprising story of love, loss, redemption, and really good food.
Claire Doheney, recovering from a serious illness, agrees to house-sit in an oceanfront mansion on Chappaquiddick island in Martha’s Vineyard. The New York book editor hopes to find solace, strength, and sufficient calm to finish her biography of the iconoclastic psychotherapist, Wilhelm Reich.
The last thing she expects to find is love.
Then she meets a mysterious man the locals call the Hermit. No one knows his real name or where he lives. To their mutual surprise, Claire and the stranger discover that they share a passion for cooking that soon sparks something more.
But Claire’s new friend has a terrible secret that threatens to drive them apart forever. The clock is ticking. Can Claire let love into her life once more before it’s too late?
The New Wife by J P Delaney – MALLORCA
When Finn Hensen gets a call from his sister Jess to say their father has died, neither is heartbroken. Their parents divorced many years ago, after which their father, Jimmy, continued to live a bohemian lifestyle in sun-soaked Mallorca, while his family returned to the UK.
Ownership of his home, a beautiful but dilapidated farmhouse in the mountains, now passes to Finn and his sister. The only problem is that Jimmy recently remarried for the third time, and his new wife, Ruensa, is still living there.
The pair agree that Finn should go to Mallorca and tactfully take possession of their inheritance. When he arrives, however, Finn is surprised to find that Finca Siquia has been completely transformed into a chic Mediterranean bolthole by Ruensa – along with her twenty-seven-year-old daughter, Roze. The Spanish police, meanwhile, are asking awkward questions about Jimmy’s death . . . Are Ruensa and Roze the helpless victims of circumstance? Or will they stop at nothing to get Finca Siquia for themselves?
The Island by Catherine Cooper – THE MALDIVES
The perfect escape, or the perfect trap?
When a select group of influencers and journalists receive an exclusive invitation to a luxury resort in the Maldives, it seems like the ultimate press trip.
But when the island is cut off during a storm and people start dying, it looks like someone has murder in mind.
Are the guests really who they seem to be, or does each one of them have a secret to hide?
Something they would kill for?
Sunsets in Oia by Sheila Busteed – SANTORINI
Selene Doherty’s excitement from the successful tour with her band is cut short when she learns that her parents were killed in the Athens riots. After the funeral, she escapes to her bequeathed summer home on the island of Santorini to recover from the tragedy. She is haunted. The loss of her family leaves her with a feeling of disconnectedness that is unshakable. But a chance reunion with a man from her past brings new romance – and hope. Drawing strength as he helps her get in touch with her roots, she begins the journey to redefine her life.
A Little Bit One O’Clock by William Ingram – BALI
This book has, in its own way, garnered a bit of a cult following.
It is an intelligent and light hearted account of one couple living within the bosom of a Balinese family. It really offers little insights into culture and mores and beautifully renders everyday life on the island. A delight set of stories and observations.
Margot by Lisa De Castro – CORSICA
Margot has gifted herself with a vacation to Corsica—the fulfillment of a promise made to herself long ago. And she must admit she’s enjoying the solitude that traveling alone brings, even if the indulgence prompts a guilty twinge or two.
Exploring Corsica’s shoreline, museums, and churches, Margot finds herself reflecting on her life and her mortality. Her daughters are grown, and her marriage at this point is best described as comfortable. As she looks back on her past through a series of revealing flashbacks, Margot realizes she’s come to a pivotal moment in time.
A chance meeting with an old boyfriend complicates matters further, igniting half-forgotten passions and memories of her own father’s infidelity—and pleasure, temptation, and guilt combine for her in equal measure. Will these stirrings change the course of Margot’s life, or will they simply ruin the stability she already has?
A delicate unfolding of one woman’s life, Margot is like the sea surrounding Corsica: beautiful, seductive, and capable of dragging the reader into unexpected depths. Author Lisa De Castro brings both Margot and Corsica to vibrant life, seamlessly blending evocative descriptions of Corsica’s weathered, ancient landscapes with Margot’s bittersweet memories—and her possible future.
Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers by Sara Ackerman – HAWAI’I
Hawaii, 1944. The Pacific battles of World War II continue to threaten American soil, and on the home front, the bonds of friendship and the strength of love are tested.
Violet Iverson and her young daughter, Ella, are piecing their lives together one year after the disappearance of her husband. As rumors swirl and questions about his loyalties surface, Violet believes Ella knows something. But Ella is stubbornly silent. Something—or someone—has scared her. And with the island overrun by troops training for a secret mission, tension and suspicion between neighbors is rising.
Violet bands together with her close friends to get through the difficult days. To support themselves, they open a pie stand near the military base, offering the soldiers a little homemade comfort. Try as she might, Violet can’t ignore her attraction to the brash marine who comes to her aid when the women are accused of spying. Desperate to discover the truth behind what happened to her husband, while keeping her friends and daughter safe, Violet is torn by guilt, fear and longing as she faces losing everything. Again.
Stranger, Visitor, Foreigner, Guest by Elizabeth Porter – ZANZIBAR
Stranger Visitor Foreigner Guest is the story of a collision of worlds and the ways in which westerners interact and impact on an extraordinary social and political arena.
At the heart of the novel are the true events of the Bushiri war. Lucy, is a would-be missionary in East Africa in the early 19th century. Sasha is a young American water engineer in Tanzania today. He is making a life for himself and he has fallen in love with Grace.
As we listen to Lucy and Sasha telling their stories, it becomes clear that no action is ever without consequences, even a hundred years down the line.
Enjoy our selection of books set on some favourite holiday islands!
Tony for the TripFiction team
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