Read your way through Europe

by Lawrence Durrell

If you loved The Durrells on ITV, there are a lot of great choices for what to read before heading to Greece yourself, including My Family and Other Animals and The Durrells of Corfu. But if you’re only picking up one Durrell book, you can’t go wrong with Lawrence Durrell’s The Greek Islands. The remarkable novelist and travel writer paints an unforgettable picture of the sunny coastline and twisted cypress trees, as he island hops through this ode to Greece. (And if you’re heading to Egypt instead, seriously, do yourself a favor and check out his Alexandria Quartet!

by Margarita Liberaki

If your tastes run more toward fiction, I am passionately fond of the gorgeous Three Summers. Three sisters come of age over the course of three summers in the sun-drenched hills outside Athens in the years before WWII. The girls are as different as the setting is beautiful, and their natures dictate the men they love, win, and lose. If your itinerary has you going somewhere other than Greece, reading this novel just might change your plans, so beware. 

by Gabriela Ybarra

Longlisted for the Booker Prize, Ybarra’s autobiographical novel is a powerful debut. The novel deals with both her difficulties helping her mother, who is dying of cancer, and the past tragedy of her grandfather’s kidnapping and murder by terrorists. Set against the backdrop of the Basque Country, the author’s journey to come to terms with loss, including loss from before she was born, will enthrall the reader. 

by Victoria Mas

🎧 Audiobook

Superstar translator Wynne brings to life the historical horrors of 19th Century Paris in Mas’s novel of early medical studies into hysteria. The women of Salpêtrière asylum are under the treatment of Doctor Charcot, who claims his hypnotherapy will help them. But they are also put on stage once a year as Paris has its opportunity to see them at the Mad Women’s Ball. Will any of these women find rescue or hope at this yearly event? Find out before walking the streets of Paris yourself!

by Lidija Hilje

🎧 Audiobook

Before exploring Zagreb or the stunning coastline, get a taste of modern Croatia in Hilje’s debut about a divorced woman caring for her aging father. While back home, Ivona’s life becomes entangled once again with her ex-husband and his new wife. Their personal and financial struggles reflect the struggles of Croatia emerging from its communist past into its capitalist future, without ever sacrificing the intense personal drama that sucks the reader in. 

by Helena Attlee

Take a deep enough breath while reading Attlee’s unique travelogue, and you might think you can smell citrus wafting through the air. Attlee wanders the length of Italy discussing a variety of lemons, blood oranges, history, sunshine, and of course, the delicious food the country is so famous for. Notes at the end include a list of farms, restaurants, and more to visit while in the country. And if, sadly, you can’t make it to Italy, delectable recipes are sprinkled throughout.