Well travelled reads: lockdown travel fiction for 2021
By Helen Wright
For some, fewer opportunities to travel over the last 12 months has meant more time to read. And with a flurry of fantastic new fiction in 2021 and a shelf of classic travel books to choose from, that’s no bad thing. Escapism through the words of stories that allow you to effortlessly travel without leaving home is no new phenomenon, but amidst a global pandemic, getting lost in a fantasy set in a far-flung place has become a lifeline.
Go exploring with 37 of the best books to escape the pandemic, including six impressive new fiction books out in 2021 and a few classics in there too because, how could we not mention them?
37 escapist lockdown reads to travel with:
1. Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens
Where: North Carolina, USA
2. The Chalet, by Catherine Cooper
Where: French Alps
3. Beautiful Ruins, by Jess Walter
Where: Cinque Terre, Italy
4. Around the World in 80 trains, by Monisha Rajesh
Where: London to Russia and Mongolia, North Korea, Canada, Kazakhstan and beyond…
5. A season in the Snow, by Isla Gordon
Where: Switzerland
6. Strange Weather in Tokyo, by Hiromi Kawakami
Where: Japan
7. Next year in Havana, Chanel Kleeton
Where: Cuba
8. Sweet Tea and Sympathy by Molly Harper
Where: Southern Georgia, USA
9. The Year of Living Danishly, by Helen Russell
Where: Denmark
10. Messy Wonderful Us, by Catherine Isaac
Where: Sirmione, Lake Garda
11. Florida by Lauren Groff
Where: Florida, USA
12. If you could go anywhere, Paige Toon
Where: Rome, Italy
13. The Hungover Games, by Sophie Heawood
Where: Hollywood, Los Angeles
14. A Summer Reunion, by Fanny Blake
Where: Mallorca
15. Hello Sunshine by Laura Dave
Where: Montauk, New York (USA)
16. Crazy Rich Asians, by Kevin Kwan
Where: Singapore
17. A Year and a Day, by Isabelle Broom
Where: Prague
18. The Paris Hours by Alex George
Where: Paris, France
19. The Next Five Years by Rebecca Serle
Where: New York City and The Hamptons
20. The little Swiss Ski Chalet, by Julie Caplin
Where: Swiss Alps
21. The 24 hour café, by Libby Page
Where: London, England
22. The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, by Lola Shoneyin
Where: Ibadan, Nigeria
23. The Long, Long Afternoon, by Inga Vesper
Where: California (in 1959)
24. Victoria Park, by Gemma Reeves
Where: London, England
25. Malibu Rising, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Where: California, USA
26. Summer at the Kindness café, by Victoria Walters
Where: Worcestershire (or, a fictional place just like it)
27. Sweetbitter, by Stephanie Danler
Where: New York City
28. We Are All Birds Of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan
Where: Uganda, Africa (in 1960s)
29. But Beautiful, by Geoff Dyer
Where: Deep South, USA
30. Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Where: Mykonos, Greece, London, England and Marin, California,
31. How To Kidnap The Rich by Rahul Raina
Where: India
32. Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Where: Mexico
33. How We Are Translated by Jessica Gaitan Johannesson
Where: Nowhere. And, everywhere
34. The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent
Where: Scotland
35. The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
Where: Taiwan, China
36. The Little Café in Copenhagen, by Julie Caplin
Where:Copenhagen
37. The Blue Bistro, by Elin Hilderbrand
Where: Nantucket, Massachusetts
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