Ten Great Books set on Tropical Islands

18th December 2022

Ten great books set on Tropical Islands. The TripFiction database contains many great books set on Tropical Islands. Places and vacations to to dream about!

Here are ten of our absolute favourites

Gatecrashing Paradise: Misadventures in the Real Maldives by Tom Chesshyre – THE MALDIVES

Away from the five-star hotels and beyond luxury hideaways, Tom Chesshyre travels to see the real, unexplored Maldives, skirting around the archipelagos periphery, staying at simple guesthouses, and using cargo ships and ferries. He discovers that beyond the glossy brochures lies an almost undiscovered country that is brimming with life, yet also a paradise teetering on the brink of trouble.
In the Maldives outsiders used to be banned from islands not officially endorsed as tourist resorts, but now a thousand sandy shores can be visited in this remote nation deep in the Indian Ocean the flattest on Earth.
This is island-hopping for the twenty-first century, sailing around 600 miles of the most beautiful islands and atolls on Earth, often to communities that have not seen an outsider for decades, …and gatecrashing the odd posh hotel.

The Prisoner of Paradise by Romesh Gunesekera – MAURITIUS

When Lucy Gladwell arrives in Mauritius from England to live with her aunt and uncle in their grand plantation house, her mind is full of the poems of Keats and tales of romance . She is nonetheless unprepared for the beauty, fecundity and otherness of this island paradise between Africa and India, where she is to be waited on hand and foot by servants and free to let her thoughts drift on the sea breeze. If only they did not drift to such problematic subjects as the restrictions of colonial society, or the bigoted outbursts of her uncle, or the disquieting attractions of Don Lambodar, a young translator from Ceylon, himself entangled in thoughts of iniquity and desire and facing a decision which could risk his precarious position. Under the surface there is growing unease. For it is 1825: Britain has wrested power from France and is shipping convict labour across the Indian Ocean. The age of slavery is coming to its messy end. Word is lapping against the shores of the island – of revolts in Europe and the Americas, and of a charismatic new Indian leader who will shine the light of liberty. For Lucy, for Don, for everyone on the island, a devastating storm is coming…In this bold novel of intimate passions and colliding destinies, Romesh Gunesekera weaves together the story of two young lovers in search of freedom, and the eloquence of the bonded heart.

Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud – TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Meet the Ramdin-Chetan family: forged through loneliness, broken by secrets, saved by love.

Irrepressible Betty Ramdin, her shy son Solo and their marvellous lodger, Mr Chetan, form an unconventional household, happy in their differences, as they build a home together. Home: the place where your navel string is buried, keeping these three safe from an increasingly dangerous world. Happy and loving they are, until the night when a glass of rum, a heart to heart and a terrible truth explodes the family unit, driving them apart.

Brave and brilliant, steeped in affection, Love After Love asks us to consider what happens at the very brink of human forgiveness, and offers hope to anyone who has loved and lost and has yet to find their way back.

A Time in Paradise by T A Garcia – HAWAII

Jade Gonzalez has always been fascinated with Hawaii and its beautiful beaches, jungle waterfalls, volcanoes, and elaborate flower lei. Even the islands’ eclectic cultural mix seems perfect to a girl of Mexican-Asian heritage.

A winter vacation to the islands to visit her mother’s old college friend Leilani gets really interesting when Jade meets Leilani’s cute son, Kai. Together, the two explore the legend of the Hidden Falls, a magical waterfall with the power to grant one’s heart’s desire. During the hike, Kai is injured and, on her way to get help, Jade takes a bad fall, only to wake up in 1957. The waterfall, it seems, really is magic.

In the past, Jade meets handsome Pono Kaluhiwa, who immediately falls for the girl from the future. Trouble is, Jade already has feelings for Kai and wants to get back to her own time. Besides, she knows what the future holds for Pono—staying with him could change his destiny and hers. Even so, Jade’s tempted to stay. Pono’s hard to deny.

Jade has a decision to make. Does she (and can she) go back to her own time, or should she stay with Pono, changing the future forever? Either way, someone’s heart is going to break. The question is, will it be Pono’s, Kai’s, or Jade’s?

The Paradise Guest House by Ellen Sussman – BALI

A riveting and poignant novel of one woman’s journey to Bali in search of love, renewal, and a place to call home-perfect for readers of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love and Alex Garland’s The Beach.

It starts as a trip to paradise. Sent on assignment to Bali, Jamie, an American adventure guide, imagines spending weeks exploring the island’s lush jungles and pristine white sand beaches. Yet three days after her arrival, she is caught in Bali’s infamous nightclub bombings, which irreparably change her life and leave her with many unanswered questions.

One year later, haunted by memories, Jamie returns to Bali seeking a sense of closure. Most of all, she hopes to find Gabe, the man who saved her from the attacks. She hasn’t been able to forget his kindness-or the spark between them as he helped her heal. Checking into a cozy guest house for her stay, Jamie meets the kindly owner, who is coping with a painful past of his own, and a young boy who improbably becomes crucial to her search. Jamie has never shied away from a challenge, but a second chance with Gabe presents her with the biggest dilemma of all: whether she’s ready to open her heart.

The Coconut Wireless by Simon Michael Prior – TONGA

When Simon and Fiona embark on a quest to track down the Queen of Tonga, they have no idea they’ll end up marooned on a desert island.
No idea they’ll encounter an undiscovered tribe, rescue a drowning actress, learn jungle survival from a commando, and attend cultural ceremonies few Westerners have seen.
As they find out who hooks up, who breaks up, who cracks up, and who throws up, will they fulfil Simon’s ambition to see the queen, or will they be distracted by insomniac chickens, grunting wild piglets, and the easy-going Tongan lifestyle?

Far Out: Sailing into a Disappearing World by Corinna Weyreter – THE SOUTH SEAS

Tired of their careers in the oil industry, Corinna Weyreter and Gjalt van der Zee sailed away from the rat race in search of freedom and adventure in the fabled South Pacific. Taking only what could justify its space on their 41-foot yacht, they abandoned materialism to discover how little a person really needs in order to be content. Trading with fishermen in Belize, learning desert island survival from the lone inhabitant of a Polynesian atoll, swimming with humpback whales beside the coral island of Niue, attending the wedding of a Chief’s son in Vanuatu … they entered an enchanting new world. But Earth is under threat from humanity. During a period when the human population doubled, animal species plummeted by more than a quarter. 41% of all oceans have been strongly affected by Man’s activities, 19% of our coral reefs have died, and 29% of fisheries have collapsed. The young couple found a beautiful world beyond the urban sprawl and rampant consumerism of mankind, but its future is fragile. In Far Out, Corinna takes us into that disappearing world and shows us its fragility with sensitive first-hand knowledge.

A Maiden’s Prayer by Srianthi Perera – SRI LANKA

Set in the Southeast Asian tropics of Sri Lanka, the story centers on an extended family trying to marry off a reluctant male relative. Berty Rajakaruna, a Jane Austenian-type of bachelor, is trying to figure out whether marriage is worth trying to reclaim his family estate from the clutches of a scheming sister. The estate is crumbling but special because it was founded by his great-great-grandfather, a Mudaliyar (comparable to a country squire) under British rule.
Wittily narrated by a young, precocious niece, the story opens a window to armchair travel; each chapter is a vignette with social, political or cultural context woven together by Berty’s life. Among the themes are astrology, Buddhism, coming-of-age and the political backdrop of Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s socialist-leaning government.
Above all, it poses the question: this tiny island in the Indian Ocean is a world apart, but how connected are we in our needs, desires, fears and emotions?

Everyone Burns by John Dolan – KOH SAMUI, THAILAND

It is January 2005, and the charred remains of two Europeans have been discovered on the Thai island of Samui.
Local Police Chief Charoenkul, sidelined by his superiors, enlists the reluctant David Braddock, a burnt-out private detective, to assist in an ‘unofficial’ investigation.
But Braddock has problems of his own, including an affair with the same Police Chief’s wife …

Peppered with irreverent humour and some pithy comments on everyday life in the Land of Smiles, Everyone Burns is much more than a crime novel. It is also a carefully-crafted psychological study of an anti-hero for our time.

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.

Enjoy your trip around some of the island paradises of the world. If we have missed any of your favourite books set on a tropical island, please add them ion the Comments below.

Tony for the Tripfiction team

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