{"id":220680,"date":"2025-06-28T06:54:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T06:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/220680\/"},"modified":"2025-06-28T06:54:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T06:54:16","slug":"immerse-yourself-in-these-location-based-novels-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/220680\/","title":{"rendered":"Immerse yourself in these location-based novels \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

ITALY\"\"<\/p>\n

I always like to match my reading to my trips. I\u2019m back with Elena Ferrante<\/b> for an upcoming holiday in Naples, and loving the simmer of Italian heat, culture and family life throughout the Neapolitan Novels. As a long-term EM Forster<\/b> fan, I\u2019d say that A Room with a View is perfect for gorgeous first impressions on Florence, mixed with depth, humour and clandestine love. Elizabeth Bowen<\/b>\u2019s Italian stories, scattered through the Collected Stories, are divine, full of boating on lakes and individualistic characters rubbing along badly. One of my favourite Bowen novels, The Hotel, is set on the Italian Riviera, and features her usual collection of snobs, maverick young ladies, odd encounters and stunning descriptions. Sharper than Forster, she conjures the light and leisure of Italian holidays perfectly. Nuala O\u2019Connor<\/b><\/p>\n

Nuala O\u2019Connor\u2019s latest novel is Seaborne (New Island)<\/p>\n

An exceptional memoir of a year in Rome is Andr\u00e9 Aciman<\/b>\u2019s My Roman Year. In 1966, teenager Andr\u00e9 was a refugee from Alexandria, a victim of President Nasser\u2019s campaign to \u201cArabise\u201d Egypt. He hates Rome initially, but gradually falls in love with the city, first with the historical centre, but also with the less picturesque parts \u2013 and with various Romans. With Andr\u00e9 you cycle around the city, you gasp at the sudden dramatic appearance of the Colosseum in the bus window, you savour the smell of bergamot. Even if you\u2019re not in the eternal city. But it would be wonderful to read it while there. Heading to Trieste? Nothing is better than Jan Morris<\/b>\u2019s Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere. All her travel books are brilliant. \u00c9il\u00eds N\u00ed Dhuibhne<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00c9il\u00eds N\u00ed Dhuibhne\u2019s latest book is Selected Stories (Blackstaff Press)<\/p>\n

UNITED STATES\"\"<\/p>\n

Music-loving visitors to the United States will enjoy Imani Perry<\/b>\u2019s Black in Blues, a remarkably beautiful book exploring black culture from Thelonius Monk to Toni Morrison. Bob Dylan<\/b>\u2019s Chronicles: Volume One is not only the best book about Bob Dylan, it is the best book about New York. Other masterful evocations of the Apple include Frank O\u2019Hara<\/b>\u2019s Lunch Poems and Patti Smith<\/b>\u2019s Just Kids. The United States\u2019 greatest wordsmiths have been songwriters, and most had immigrant roots. As your flight crosses the Atlantic, it would be lovely to listen to Van Morrison<\/b>\u2019s stunning new album, Remembering Now, a moving and thrilling memoir that unfurls into glorious life the soul, blues, jazz and gospel that have been the United States\u2019 richest artistic gifts, the soundtrack of its better angels. Joseph O\u2019Connor<\/b><\/p>\n

Joseph O\u2019Connor\u2019s latest novel is The Ghosts of Rome (Harvill Secker)<\/p>\n

NETHERLANDS\"\"<\/p>\n

I became a fan of Gerbrand Bakker<\/b> when I read The Twin about 10 years ago. His new novel The Hairdresser\u2019s Son (also translated by David Colmer) examines loneliness and grief as quiet-living Simon puzzles over the long-standing mystery of his father\u2019s disappearance. William Golding\u2019s<\/b> The Lord of the Flies regularly appears on \u201c100 best books\u201d lists, and for its 70th anniversary, in 2024, the Dutch illustrator and author Aim\u00e9e de Jongh reimagined it as a beautiful and evocative graphic novel. De Jongh\u2019s version celebrates the original text yet is also entirely original and fresh. Set in the Dutch countryside in 1961, Yael van der Wouden<\/b>\u2019s Women\u2019s Prize-winning debut, The Safekeep<\/a>, is both a psychological thriller and love story, a marvellously unsettling portrait of desire, possessiveness and the creep of obsession. Henrietta McKervey<\/b><\/p>\n

Henrietta McKervey\u2019s latest novel is A Talented Man (Hachette Books Ireland)<\/p>\n

FRANCE\"\"<\/p>\n

The writing of the Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux<\/b> tracks her experiences as a working-class woman and offers a more prosaic version of France than we are used to. Try Happening to begin with. Leila Slimani<\/b>\u2019s Goncourt-winning Lullaby was a shocking novel about a nanny who kills the children in her care, but it also examines the Parisian bourgeoisie, class divisions and the dilemma of domestic labour in the age of equality. Herv\u00e9 Le Tellier<\/b>\u2019s The Anomaly is a mind-bending speculative mystery that sees a planeful of people duplicated during a storm. Le Tellier explores the different paths the duplicate characters\u2019 lives take, and what it might mean. This too won the Prix Goncourt. Finally, the crime writer Cl\u00e9mence Michallon<\/b>\u2019s The Quiet Tenant is a psychological thriller about a woman held captive by a serial killer. Edel Coffey<\/b><\/p>\n

Edel Coffey\u2019s latest novel is In Her Place (Sphere)<\/p>\n

PORTUGAL\"\"<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Saramago<\/b>\u2019s career can be roughly divided into pre-Nobel, when his novels intimately examined Portuguese history, and post-Nobel, when they evolved into less geographically specific parables. His sole work of nonfiction, Journey to Portugal, translated by Amanda Hopkinson and Nick Caistor, <\/b>is a fine meditative travelogue set in post-Salazar Portugal in 1979. The other giant of contemporary Portuguese literature is Ant\u00f3nio Lobo Antunes<\/b>. A trained psychiatrist who spent three years as an army medic in the colonial war in Angola, Lobo Antunes is one of literature\u2019s greatest living stylists, a radiographer of late-20th century Portugal, especially the messy reflux of decolonisation. A good starting point is his 1988 novel, The Return of the Caravels, translated by Gregory Rabassa. Fernando Pessoa<\/b>\u2019s \u201cautobiography without facts\u201d, The Book of Disquiet, <\/b>translated by Richard Zenith, might be a hackneyed suggestion, but few books capture the essence of a city for a visitor so well as it does of Lisbon. Oliver Farry<\/b><\/p>\n

Oliver Farry is a foreign correspondent and book reviewer<\/p>\n

CROATIA\"\"<\/p>\n

I firmly believe that, had she not died in 2018, Dasa Drndic<\/b> would feature in the Nobel conversation today. Monumental novels such as Trieste (translated by Ellen Elias Bursac), Belladonna and EEG (translated by Celia Hawkesworth) encapsulate so much about personal and European history in the 20th century and resonate loudly today. Exciting younger writers have also broken through. Tea Tulic<\/b>\u2019s debut novel, Hair Everywhere, translated by Coral Petkovich, is surprising and tender in depicting a family upended by cancer. Olja Savicevic<\/b> has had two excellent novels translated into English: Farewell, Cowboy and Singer in the Night (both translated by Celia Hawkesworth). Those looking to lose themselves in an epic historical family saga should certainly look out for The Brass Age by Slobodan Snajder<\/b> (also translated by Celia Hawkesworth). R\u00f3n\u00e1n Hession<\/b><\/p>\n

R\u00f3n\u00e1n Hession\u2019s latest novel is Ghost Mountain (Bluemoose)<\/p>\n

SPAIN\"\"<\/p>\n

Spain is associated with light, colour and the pleasures of the palate. It is also a country that suffered a devastating civil war in the 20th century and decades of dictatorship. The tensions and legacies from that period are still present in contemporary Spanish society. Javier Mar\u00edas<\/b>, who died in 2022, was one of the most perceptive and able chroniclers of the deep divisions in Spain that resulted from the brutal repression and all-pervasive surveillance of the fascist years. In novels such as The Infatuations (2013), Thus Bad Begins (2016), Berta Isla (2018) and Tom\u00e1s Nevinson (2021), Mar\u00edas offers a forensic exploration of how a society is indelibly marked by political violence and by the consequent temptations of compliance and betrayal. One of the enduring delights of Mar\u00edas\u2019s writing is his utterly distinctive voice, which at once draws the reader into his sensitive and richly detailed description of his home country. Michael Cronin<\/b><\/p>\n

Michael Cronin is professor of French at Trinity College Dublin<\/p>\n

For Lanzarote, you could do much worse than grab Margaret Drabble<\/b>\u2019s The Dark Flood Rises, which is largely set on that island. \u00c9il\u00eds N\u00ed Dhuibhne<\/b><\/p>\n

GREECE \"\"<\/p>\n

I recently researched a novel set in Greece that I didn\u2019t write, so I have ideas, with the caveat that these are anglophone books about living in Greece rather than Greek literature in translation. Sofka Zinovieff<\/b>\u2019s Eurydice Street is an attentive, observant account of moving to Athens with a young family. Charmian Clift<\/b>\u2019s two memoirs, Mermaid Singing and Peel Me a Lotus, will take you to Hydra in the 1960s with Leonard Cohen passing through. Patrick Leigh Fermor<\/b>\u2019s Letters invite you to a bohemian English villa, under construction and then hosting European artists and writers, in postwar Kardamyli. And of course there are the Durrell brothers \u2013 Lawrence for preference. Sarah Moss<\/b><\/p>\n

Sarah Moss\u2019s latest novel is Ripeness (Picador)<\/p>\n

MALTA\"\"<\/p>\n

Brian Blouet<\/b>\u2019s The Story of Malta (Ninth Edition), first published in 1967, remains the best introduction to the intriguing history of this country, from the wonders of its neolithic temples to its successive colonisation by different groups, most famously the Knights of St John, who defended it from the Ottomans in a famous 1565 siege. Blouet, coincidentally a neighbour of mine when I was growing up, first came to Malta as an RAF pilot in the 1950s, when it was still part of the British Empire. Malta might not be the first place that comes to mind when you think of queer history, but Beloved Malta: Stories of Sexual and Gender Identity offers a riveting alternative history of the country that is ironically enabled by the immaculate records kept by the Knights of St John. Today Malta is one of the most LGBTQ-friendly countries in the world despite the persistent influence of the Catholic Church. Daniel Geary<\/b><\/p>\n

Daniel Geary is professor of American history at Trinity College Dublin<\/p>\n

MEXICO\"\"<\/p>\n

I loved You Dreamed of Empires by \u00c1lvaro Enrigue<\/b>, translated by Natasha Wimmer. It\u2019s zippy and humid, which makes it ideal for when the sun is getting to you. The twists and turns of its paragraphs and sentences mimic not just the palaces where its characters \u2013 Cort\u00e9s, Moctezuma and a cohort of conquistadores having a bad trip \u2013 find themselves lost but also the dreamy unfurling of the alternative history that it narrates. I won\u2019t spoil what happens, but if you read it on holidays in Mexico you\u2019ll look up from the end of it with a heartbroken ache at what you see around you. \u201cPlot twist\u201d doesn\u2019t cover it: it\u2019s more enigmatic than that \u2013 a wrenching of the mood, maybe. Really quite something. Might ruin the holiday, albeit in a fruitful way. Tim MacGabhann<\/b><\/p>\n

Tim MacGabhann\u2019s latest book is The Black Pool: A Memoir of Forgetting (Sceptre)<\/p>\n

AUSTRALIA\"\"<\/p>\n

In case we begin to believe that Australia is a country with a few big cities let us remind ourselves that it is a continent only slightly smaller than Europe, so clearly a few books won\u2019t cover it. But it is far away, so if you\u2019re undergoing the journey, you can read many books. I\u2019d suggest The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes<\/b> for a drenching in essential history, and True Stories, or Everywhere I Look, by Helen Garner<\/b>, one of Australia\u2019s great essayists \u2013 and there are many. I\u2019ve said before that her work is put together with sentences that begin on the low ground but rise into expressions of joy, marvellous pictures as clear as a well-dusted photo album. I\u2019d pack any anthology of short stories, because they have the capacity to illuminate in shades; be sure they include some of the more modern work, including those of First Nations voices. In fact, sorting books for the journey \u2013 did I say long journey? \u2013 is part of the pleasure. Include some poetry; that\u2019s for somewhere over the ocean spread, when you\u2019ve asked yourself \u201cWhy am I here?\u201d while realising that, all things considered, it does make sense to travel to Australia by ship. You could then have Jon Cleary for dessert. Although not considered a literary gem, his Scobie Malone thrillers give a well-crafted glimpse into suburban Australian life, its concerns and foibles. Evelyn Conlon<\/b><\/p>\n

Evelyn Conlon\u2019s latest book is After the Train: Irishwomen United and a Network of Change (UCD Press), edited with Rebecca Pelan<\/p>\n

BULGARIA\"\"<\/p>\n

Usually when I visit a country I like to read some of its classic works. If you\u2019re heading to the Black Sea, why not read Ivan Vazov<\/b>\u2019s Under the Yoke, a passionate, rather sentimental novel about the Bulgarian fight for freedom in the late 19th century? You\u2019ll get it on your ereader. And the contemporary writer Georgi Gospodinov<\/b>\u2019s The Physics of Sorrow will give you an insight into more recent times in that intriguing country. \u00c9il\u00eds N\u00ed Dhuibhne<\/b><\/p>\n

TURKEY\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a very young age, I suspected there was more to my world than I could see: somewhere in the streets of Istanbul, in a house resembling ours, there lived another Orhan so much like me that he could pass for my twin, even my double.\u201d So begins Orhan Pamuk<\/b>\u2019s Istanbul: Memories and the City, translated by Maureen Freely, an enchanting memoir that\u2019s both scholarly and confessional. Drawing on a broad range of writers, from Baudelaire to Resat Ekrem Kocu, Pamuk evokes the city\u2019s complex history and politics, its derelict grandeur and collective melancholy \u2013 h\u00fcz\u00fcn \u2013 weaving in his own coming-of-age story amid Istanbul\u2019s post-imperial decay. Ruby Eastwood<\/b><\/p>\n

Ruby Eastwood is a postgraduate student at Trinity College Dublin and a book reviewer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ITALY I always like to match my reading to my trips. I\u2019m back with Elena Ferrante for an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3938],"tags":[3444,77670,77,87146,87147,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-220680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-elena-ferrante","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-herve-le-tellier","12":"tag-orhan-pamuk","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114759681302435248","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}