Selected fiction set in Barcelona

Barcelona is no. 7 in www.Viator.com Top Travel Destinations 2012. Such a popular destination, it's not surprising we have had lots of requests via our service BookButler@TripFiction.com for recommended fiction set in Barcelona. So, here we share some of our top personal picks....Stroll through the Rambla and the Barri Gòtic, enjoy lunch at the famous restaurant Els Quatre Gats, climb steps to the top of the Sagrada Familia - and do all this via fiction. There is so much to glean from a good novel that brings a chosen location to life! 
   





 "Ever wondered what makes Catalonia different and special? That'll be the people, their character and the history. This novel introduces you to all of these elements in a very readable story. If you are like me, you will make a beeline back to Santa Maria del Mar to see all the things you missed before. Some of the characterisations are rather 'sensational' and it gallops through mediaeval history at a huge pace .. but it is very enjoyable if historical fiction is your thing. It's a good translation too."
(Reader Review on Tripfiction) http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/173




Fancy a spot of romance?"This book is filled with Elizabeth Adler trademark descriptions of the locality. A freshness in her writing bring the city to life and for those of us lucky enough to travel there, and those of us reading from our armchair. The Number 1 novelist for conjuring local flair"


     http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/700



Don't be fooled - Barcelona, with all its illustrious colour and exterior finery, hasn't always been able to curb its darker yearnings. Blame it on a bubbling, repressive concoction made with a pinch of Church, a touch of Crown and a large dose of General Franco to stir up the insides of its very independent and anarchic Catalonian spirit. Repression, vice, immigration - the 14 stories in Barcelona Noir will divert readers' eyes from Barcelona's lively Ramblas and Gaudi spires, opening them onto the city's tainted side; one that will never appear on any tour. http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/1232

And no list for Barcelona set fiction can be complete without mentioning Carlos Ruiz Zafón's work. It is Barcelona, 1945, post war, and a boy, Daniel awakes and can no longer remember his Mother’s face. Daniel’s widowed father, who deals in antiquarian books, introduces him to the Cemeter of Forgotten Books – each book waiting for someone to care for them. From an overwhelming choice, Daniel chooses The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax and then goes on a quest to find the rest of Carax’s work. However, he discovers that someone has been destroying every work of his and that his own book may well be one of the only works by Carax in existence. He is drawn to a world of other worldliness, love and madness and it becomes clear he has to find out more about Carax before his own family is engulfed by the scary world he has entered.
http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/364


Have you read any Barcelona fiction that really drops you into the buzzing city? Then share it with other readers and leave a comment in our Comments Box.

Review Copies for Readers

OUR REVIEW COPIES CAN NOW BE FOUND ON THE NEW TRIPFICTION WEBSITE HERE

Renaissance VENICE captured in fiction

The broad span of Renaissance Venice in fiction. Capture the feel, the smells and the people through these three books which truly capture period detail and life in the canal city...... and click on the links for more information. Available to purchase through TF (via the link) or from your local bookshop.



The mask depicted here is the type worn by doctors during this period and the long nose was stuffed full with pungent and fragrant herbs to protect from the stench of the streets (and people, no doubt) and to stave off infection.





1576. Five years after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Lepanto, a ship steals unnoticed into Venice bearing a deadly cargo. A man more dead than alive disembarks and staggers into Piazza San Marco. He brings a gift to Venice from Constantinople. Within days the city is infected with bubonic plague - and the Turkish Sultan has his revenge. But the ship also holds a secret stowaway - Feyra, a young and beautiful harem doctor fleeing a future as the Sultan's concubine. Only her wits and medical knowledge keep her alive as the plague ravages Venice.
In despair the Doge commissions the architect Andrea Palladio to build the greatest church of his career - an offering to God so magnificent that Venice will be saved. But Palladio's own life is in danger too, and it will require all skills of medico Annibale Cason, the city's finest plague doctor, to keep him alive. http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2253

1527. While the Papal city of Rome burns - brutally sacked by an invading army including Protestant heretics - two of her most interesting and wily citizens slip away, their stomachs churning on the jewels they have swallowed as the enemy breaks down their doors. Though almost as damaged as their beloved city, Fiammetta Bianchini and Bucino Teodoldi - a fabulous courtesan and her dwarf companion - are already planning their future. They head for the shimmering beauty of Venice, a honey pot of wealth and trade where they start to rebuild their business. As a partnership they are invincible: Bucino, clever with a sharp eye and a wicked tongue and Fiammetta, beautiful and shrewd, trained from birth to charm, entertain and satisfy men who have the money to support her. Venice, however, is a city which holds its own temptations. From the admiring Turk in search of human novelties for his Sultan's court, to the searing passion of a young lover who wants more than his allotted nights. But the greatest challenge comes from a young blind woman, a purveyor of health and beauty, who insinuates her way into their lives with devastating consequences for them all. http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/235

1468. Sosia Simeon, a free spirit with a strange predilection for books and Venetians is making her particular mark on the fabled city. On the other side of the Grand Canal, Wendelin von Speyer from Germany is setting up the first printing press in Venice and looking for the book that will make his fortune.
A love triangle develops between Sosia, Wendelin's young editor, and the seductive scribe Felice Feliciano, a man who loves the crevices of the alphabet the way other men love the crevices of women. Before long, a dark magic begins to haunt Sosia and the printers: an obsessive nun and a book-hating priest conspire against them, and soon their fate hangs in the balance. Binding them all together is the poet Catullus - whose desperate and unrequited love inspired the most tender erotic poems of antiquity. http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2438

SHARE THE NOVELS THAT FOR YOU HAVE CAPTURED RENAISSANCE VENICE IN THE COMMENTS BOX - WE HAVE LITERALLY ONLY SCRAPED THE SURFACE. HELP US BUILD A MEMORABLE LIST OF MUST-READS!

TripFiction is ready for Reader Reviews

"see a location through an author's eyes"

We have a rolling list of review copies to send out to anyone who is looking for a new read - just let us know if you are interested in the Comments Box below and you can choose from some top titles.

 We are also inviting readers of our Blog to visit www.TripFiction.com and give us independent reviews of the books on our site.

Reviews are based on both Content and on Location - share with other visitors to the site what you think. Did you enjoy reading the novel, did it transport you to the location? Our research tells us that there are many people out there who value and gain a lot of insight into a chosen location by reading a novel set there - and independent reviews from you will really add value to what we offer.

In time, we would like to be able to collate the top three locational novels set, for example, in Paris or Australia or Moscow - based on the reviews we have received. Would Eat, Pray, Love be at the top of the Rome/India/Bali list, or would there be others that you would favour instead, ones that really conjure up each location?

So, it is now over to you. Visit www.TripFiction.com select the book you want to review from the drop down list and click on Add Review. We have, we hope, made it as easy as possible for visitors to our site to do this.

Harmattan set in Niger, West Africa

Harmattan by Gavin Weston set in Niger

Our review of this book can now be found on the new TripFiction website

Fiction set in the Pyrenees

The Pyrenees, a range of mountains that forms a border between Spain and France, are a classic holiday destination. We have chosen three novels from both sides of the divide. All different genres, they just capture the spirit and feel of this beautiful part of the world. Do come along for the trip and see a location through an author's eyes.... click on each link and you will be taken to the book.


A timeless piece of writing, short, a two hour read. Set in the Catalan Pyrenees around the villages of Pallarès, Montsent, Torrent, Noguera, Ermita. It describes the hardships of peasant life in a beautifully lyrical and evocative way, and is the story of Conxa, and how she falls for Jaume when she is living with her aunt, Tia. In the background is the build-up to the Spanish Civil War, King Alfonso XIII leaves the country and as the country changes so does Conxa's life. The mountains, the search for mushrooms - Moixarrons and Carreretes - the animals, the life and its hardships....just gorgeously descriptive. http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2380

And over to the French side with this light hearted novel set in Fogas. The Auberge des Deux Vallées has been bought by an English couple and not by the Mayor's brother-in-law as had been expected. The English are going to run a restaurant? Zut alors, ce n'est pas possible! The Mayor calls an emergency meeting hoping to authorise an order for compulsory purchase. But his deputy, Christian Dupuy, whose conscience always leads his politics, refuses to condone this. Follow the trials and tribulations of this small community... http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/1125



And again on the French side a rivetting tale set in early part of the 20th century. It is 1928 and Frederick Watson crashes his car in a snowstorm in the foothills of the Pyrenees. He believes he hears a woman's voice: 'The Winter Ghosts'. He abandons his car and walks down the hillside path to the small village of Nulle, a sad village, and there he finds shelter. The young woman he meets there tell him her terrible story.
"Brilliant writing on the French countryside, if you like a bit of ghostly surrealism and a bit of romance, plus stunning descriptions, then this is definitely for you!"
http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/1585

More books set in the Pyrenees (and in over 670 other destinations around the globe) at www.Tripfiction.com Come and join us, write reviews of any books that have been evocative of location, suggest new titles....generally, we would LOVE to hear from you.

Take a virtual tour of Tokyo via fiction

Take a virtual tour into the heart of Tokyo.............

A coming of age story, almost a novella, that charts the relationship between Takashi and Haruka.
For us at TripFiction, this is a fabulous novel that weaves its way into the heart of Tokyo life and brings the city into sharp focus for the reader. This is a great novel for exploring frenetic Tokyo life, offering up little aspects that make Tokyo, well, Tokyo. The automatic opening of taxi doors, the young peoples' love of Western and Japanese named brands,descriptions of the kotatsu heaters that many older style dwellings still have. Pocky Sticks! The intricacies of the subway lines. And the delightful examples of how the Japanese enthusiastically embrace western words and names that result in what, to us, are plain wacky: the author mentions two wedding magazines called Zexy and 25ans, and the coffee shop "hors et dans". It's all there, little vignettes of how the city works.... and not a single mention of Pocari Sweat!! If you fancy an armchair trip to Tokyo, either to rekindle memories of a visit, or to prepare for an upcoming journey; or just because you want a bit of insight, then give this book a go. It is a a quick read and can be purchased via this link:

http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2294

If you fancy a couple of other novel suggestions, then click on this link to our previous Tokyo blogspot. They are all top reads and will transport you to the city via fiction.

http://tripfiction.blogspot.ch/2012/05/two-books-for-starters-in-tokyo.html

Tanoshimu! 

Hanoi set fiction

The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb

This post can now be found on the TripFiction blog here

A couple of novel suggestions for ROME

We are taking you on a journey to Rome this week, via some wonderful fiction. We have chosen just a couple of books that are perhaps less well known than some of the more obvious choices like: 

•  Eat, Pray, Love http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/196
•  I, Claudius http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/484 
• Angels and Demons http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/1429

or the novels by Steven Saylor or Iain Pears, for example. For us these two iconic novels just capture the feel of the Eternal City from two very unusual perspectives. There are lots more books that will evoke Rome through their pages at www.TripFiction.com -  just pay us a visit!

"see a location through an author's eyes"

"This is not really like anything else I have read (the Road, perhaps?). One single sentence guides you through just over 100 pages from beginning to end. 1943, a young pregnant woman mulls over her situation, the situation of the world, and her place in Rome, and Rome's place in the world, in a stream of consciousness. I read it in a couple of hours and was bowled over." http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2248

A small, culturally mixed community living in an apartment building in the centre of Rome is thrown into disarray when one of the neighbours is murdered. As each of the victim's neighbours is questioned, the reader is offered an all-access pass into the most colourful neighbourhood in contemporary Rome. Each character recounts his or her story - revealing the dramas of emigration, immigration, and the fears and misunderstandings of a life spent on society's margins, abused by mainstream culture's fears, preconceptions and insensitivities. (and isn't the title just wonderfully quirky?) http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/178

Please help us the build this site into a really valuable resource for travellers: you can do this by buying your books through our site, as we get a small commission from every sale with no cost to the purchaser (if you buy a Maserati through our site, for example, that would help us greatly!); come and write reviews and, of course, suggest more titles to add to the over 2000 titles. It's a great way to get to know a destination in such a unique way.

Cool coffee fiction

 

Drinking a glorious cup of coffee, a Flat White, a Macchiato, a Verlängerter, a Cappuccino, an Espresso, a Café crème .... where did the coffee craze start? We have selected a couple of historical novels that just capture the essence of the bean, with a bit of chutzpah and some great writing.


Amsterdam in the 1600s. Lienzo, a Portugese Jew, stumbles across a new commodity - coffee - which, if he plays his cards right, will make him the richest man in Holland. But others stand in his way - rival traders who do all in their power to confuse the exchange and scupper his plans, his brother who is jealous of his financial wizardry and even his brother's beautiful wife who both tempts and spurns him in equal measure. http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/1181

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Ethiopia, 1895. Robert Wallis, would-be poet, bohemian and impoverished dandy, accepts a commission from coffee merchant Samuel Pinker to categorise the different tastes of coffee - and encounters Pinker's free-thinking daughters, Philomenia, Ada and Emily. As romance blossoms with Emily, Robert realises that the Muse and marriage may not be incompatible after all. Sent to Abyssinia to make his fortune in the coffee trade, he becomes obsessed with a negro slave girl, Fikre. He decides to use the money he has saved to buy her from her owner - a decision that will change not only his own life, but the lives of the three Pinker sisters . http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/848

Please do suggest any other coffee themed novels that you know of. We would love to be able to build up a collection of books with coffee at their heart - just let us know via the Comments Box.

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Amazing fiction set in Amsterdam

A couple of delectable novels set in Amsterdam, both very different and selected from our collection of city set fiction. If you are looking for a specific genre just title an e mail Book Butler at contact@TripFiction.com and we will help you find great literature that evokes a location - an innovative way to get a feel for a place.

"see a location through an author's eyes"

A strange and mesmerising book, set in Amsterdam. Two couples - the two men are brothers - meet over dinner one evening and the structure of the book is governed by the courses of the meal, various dishes pepper the plot, you can almost hear the sound of the cutlery clinking on plates. The polite discourse circumnavigates the core event, perpetrated as we find out by the offspring of the two couples. It is a stylish and sometimes quirky read, darkly delicious in parts and thought provoking. Does it conjure up Amsterdam? It certainly has a Dutch flavour but it is the storyline that captures the imagination. http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2241



In contrast this is a richly evocative novel set in the wintry city. This is a story which stretches back over 250 years. Ruth Braams is an art historian who works on processing claims on artwork stolen by the Nazis during their occupation of the Netherlands. One day in the Rijksmuseum, she meets an elderly lady called Lydia who has registered a claim on an odd little painting - and here begins a dark adventure. http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/1703



Whether it is The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank) or books about Tulip Fever, come and share the books that have transported you to the canals of Amsterdam here, in Comments. Love to hear from you....help us to make this a valuable resource for travellers.

Viva Las Vegas in Fiction

As Las Vegas has been in the news recently (the flashing of some very royal peaches in the city caused quite a stir), we thought we would select a couple of novels from the 2,100 currently on our database, that just ooze glitter, light and action, set in this, the grandest (and seediest) of North American desert cities. These are dazzling reads, and truly transport you the reader to the city, almost as if you were there yourself....

"see a location through an author's eyes" 



16 stories. Las Vegas provides the classic sophistication and darkness necessary for a deadly noir story. Stylish, sultry, brimming with ambition and greed, the characters who populate this literary Las Vegas are pushed to the extremes of human experience. From the neon glitter of the Strip to the treacherous views of Red Rock Canyon and Boulder City, from the desperation of Naked City to the racial tensions of the Westside, no other location offers so many different avenues leading to serious trouble.
http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/1940

Angela receives a letter from the immigration service revoking her visa. 30 days to obtain another visa or leave the country! Best friend Jenny Lopez suggests that she marries boyfriend Alex................
http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2082

It's Halloween in Las Vegas and things are crazier than normal for Connie the wedding planner. Vicky and Frank are in town for their nuptials but she soon realises that he has more on his mind than wedding bells. Vicky's teenage daughter Tina is less than impressed until she meets Connie's moody and enigmatic son Kyle. Frank's brother John is trying to hold everyone together but then something happens that turns the wedding party on their heads at 4am in Las Vegas! http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2133

You can support www.TripFiction.com in so many ways -
become a member via Google Friends here, follow us onTwitter and Facebook; write reviews, buy books through our site and suggest titles that are evocative of location. Together we can build this site into a great resource for travellers. Thank you to all supporters.

Come to Kerala via fiction

Two very different books to transport the reader to Kerala....

The first is aimed at young adults, and is the story of Cassia who accompanies her Mum Lula to Kerala. Through her eyes , the reader experiences Cassia's take on India, and her zeal for engaging others in her love for dance, coupled with the anxieties of her age group, both real and imagined. This book is due out early September 2012 and is the Winner of  the 2011 Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices children's Book Award.
http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2357





The second is the story of Rahel and Estha, twins growing up among the banana vats and peppercorns of their blind grandmother’s factory, and amid scenes of political turbulence in Kerala. Armed only with the innocence of youth, they fashion a childhood in the shade of the wreck that is their family: their lonely, lovely mother, their beloved Uncle Chacko (pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher) and their sworn enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun, incumbent grand-aunt). Winner of the Booker Prize. http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/214


Pop over to our Facebook page where we are randomly giving away top novels set in location to readers who give us a LIKE. https://www.facebook.com/pages/TripFiction/170507589708729?ref=hl

The Scent of Lemon Leaves...in Spain...

We were really pleased to discover The Scent of Lemon Leaves by Clara Sánchez, a great novel set in a small part of Spain that many Europeans will have visited in their Summer holidays. It conjures up the real feel of a Spanish Urbanización and surrounding countryside as the story unfolds with the change of seasons.......
Click on the cover to find out more.



The story of young woman Sandra and older gentleman Julian. Their paths cross by the ocean on the Costa Blanca, near Javea (El Tosalet) and gradually they build a friendship that is based on examining the true origins of a community of elderly foreign nationals who live there. Sandra finds herself lodging with Karin and Fredrik, an elderly Norwegian couple who are not all they initially seem. Julian has been a witness to the couple's history in the concentration camps of the Second World War and the atrocities they were capable of. Beautifully translated by Julie Wark this is a book that lingers on beyond the final page.


Plenty of novels set in and evocative of Spain. Tell us which is your favourite in the Comments Box below.

Cambodia - In the Shadow of the Banyan - stunning!

 

"impossibly beautiful"

There is not much to add to that comment, this is a tremendous book set in Cambodia, it is absolutely in our Top 20 reads. If you want a bit about history of the revolution that took place in there 1975-1979 and a beautifully told story, part autobiographical, then this is an absolute must. Cambodia just lifts off the pages,the jungle, the heat, the oppression, the animal life, all observed throught the eyes of Raami, an 8 year old girl. Written in a style that is both lyrical and profound it is a book that lingers long after the book has been closed for the last time.

As it says on the cover it is in the mould of The Other Hand, Half of a Yellow Sun and The Kite Runner. http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2334

We will be starting a top 20 list of titles set around the world, this will certainly feature on our list. If you have a top title, share it with us and our readers in the

 Comments Box
This is one of the other books that will definitely appear on our top top reading list http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2160 (set in Tokyo/Beijing)

ROME and La Dolce Vita via fiction

Three fabulous novels that absosulutely capture the feel of the 1950s and 1960s in Rome and La Dolce Vita - Mario Lanza, Marcello Mastroianni, Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn...suddenly Rome has become the most glamourous place on earth. Enjoy these specially selected books and transport yourself back in time.

"SEE A LOCATION THROUGH AN AUTHOR'S EYES"

Rome of the 1950s, a terrific period of gorgeous frocks, glittering events and movie stars. Rome is all about narrow streets and alleyways, grand boulevards, fountains and piazzas full of life in the heat of the day, sultry at night, cafes and bars full of music and larger than life characters: .... Mario Lanza - this is the novel of Serafina, a poor girl who finds her way into the great singer's household and becomes an important member of the entourage.

And if you want even more glamour, this is another terrific read, evocative of both the era and the places, Rome and Hollywood. The story begins on the Italian coast in 1962. A young innkeeper watches in disbelief as a beautiful American girl gets out of a boat and climbs towards his hotel. She turns out to be an actress, on the run from the shenanigans going on down the coast in Rome at the filming of Cleopatra. A few days later international star Richard Burton, much the worse for wear, appears in the village too.

Half a century later, and half a world away in Hollywood, an elderly Italian man shows up on a movie studio's back lot - searching for the woman he last saw in his hotel fifty years before.

And in this final selection, real crime, behind the scenes of the glamourous lifestyle in this historical exposé. On 9 April 1953 an attractive twenty-one-year-old woman went missing from her family home in Rome. Thirty-six hours later her body was found washed up on a neglected beach at Torvaianica, forty kilometres from the Italian capital. Some said it was suicide; others, a tragic accident. But as the police tried to close the case, darker rumours bubbled to the surface. Could it be that the mysterious death of this quiet, conservative girl was linked to a drug-fuelled orgy, involving some of the richest and most powerful men in Italy?. 

 

AT TRIPFICTION WE FEATURE 2,500 NOVELS SET IN OVER 760 LOCATIONS - GOING ON A TRIP SOON? THEN CHOOSE YOUR FICTION TO EVOKE YOUR CHOSEN LOCATION - IT'S A FASCINATING WAY OF GETTING TO KNOW A PLACE. CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW WHICH WILL TAKE YOU STRAIGHT TO THE WEBSITE TO BROWSE.



Farang on Phuket

We feature a couple of novels set on the island of Phuket to whet your appetite - feel the sun blazing down, settle down in a hammock and drift into the world of island life in Thailand.

Catching the Sun tells the story of the Finn family and their move to the North of Phuket. The experience of the farang (it is farang in plural rather than farangs??), the Westerners who try to make the island paradise their home. The scenery is lush and evocative, but life and natural events take their toll. The beach is real, the story is fiction - and you can tell that Parsons has a real sense of what it means to dive into Thai island life, the bars are there, the fairy lights, the festivals, the food, the smells and the sun going down over the glassy ocean. Raise a Singha beer to good fiction and enjoy a rollercoaster ride!
http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2225


Another story of what lurks beneath the island idyll. Welcome to Phuket. It s a paradise, for the rich, the beautiful and the heavily armed. When Jack Shepherd runs into international racketeer and fugitive Plato Karsarkis in a Phuket beach bar one night, little can he imagine the series of events the chance encounter sets in motion. Jack finds himself swiftly embroiled in a world of arms deals, extortion and blackmail.

http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/1854



Do drop by our site www.TripFiction.com and if you know of a book that deserves recognition because it really brings a place to life (and we don't already feature it) let us know. We are also starting to take reviews of books - so imagine coming to the site to look for readers' Top Three Fiction set in Paris, or Top Three Crime set in Bangkok - this is a new and exciting way to get to know a place and find inspiration for new reading material!

Passion (and food) in Paris

This book landed one day in our letterbox and we thought, hmmm, not another gastro tour through the great city. But this is truly insightful, intelligent and at times funny (though, ok, we got a bit lost on some of the references to American culture) and it is pepperered with luscious recipes. Here are some highlights from the book that caught our eye:

1. So, who knew (this is an aside gleaned from the book) that the Mona Lisa has a ganglion cyst on her thumb (look carefully at her portrait and you will see it!).

2. Check out the author's thoughts on French women who pick at their food (and what might that say about their sex lives?????)

3. A great tip for getting willowy souffles: "Everyone wants her souffles (oops, don't mind the incorrect use of the pronoun here, the proof editing has missed a few typos in our copy, and moving on swiftly....) to reach towering heights. Our friend Virginie has an interesting trick. When you butter the sides of the ramekin, use vertical strokes, going from bottom to top. It helps the souffle "crawl" up the sides as it bakes".

4. And to finish off, this is an example of why we found this book such a beautiful read: "I ordered a salad with smoked salmon. I know that doesn't sound like a particularly decadent repast,  but it is. That's because the French long ago mastered the art of serving salad so it doesn't feel like a punishment for something. There are always a few caramel-crusted potatoes on your salade niçoise, or a plump chicken liver  or two bedded down in a nest of lamb's lettuce. Or your salad might be topped with what is called a tartine - a large thin slice of country bread (Poilâne if you are lucky) topped with anything from melted goat cheese to shrimp and avocado.
My lunch arrived, a well-worn wooden planche heaped with pillowy green lettuce, folded in a creamy, cloudy, mustardy vinaigrette. Balanced on top were three half slice of pain Poilâne, spread with the merest millimeter of butter, topped with coral folds of salmon."

Click on the cover to find out more. Available to purchase through TripFiction and local bookstores

Share your favourite books that are especially evocative of Paris with us here in the Comments Box.

Into the zone of East Germany

In this selection of books we take you back to the era around the Fall of the Berlin Wall, second half to the 20th Century, to capture the feel of life behind the Wall and recommend some terrific reads to evoke the times.


A thriller set in the paranoid last weeks before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, depicting the special squads of armed officers, the torture chambers in the Stasi jail, the hundreds of thousands of informers who could do nothing to prevent the rebellion that saw the fall of the Berlin Wall....

"Porter's success lies in his ability to weave the fictitious lives of his characters into the real history of the period".

http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2301


So, anyone who has had the experience of crossing into East Berlin before the Wall came down will probably get a huge amount from this book, just the small observations of life as it was, the border crossings, the intrigue and paranoia. And a good plot that re-evokes the period.

http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/346




"Extraordinary tales from the underbelly of the former East Germany"

The two Germanies are reunited, and East Germany ceases to exist. Funder exposes life Behind the Wall as she trawls through documents and meets people who have stories to tell.

http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/284






http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/332 The setting is the divided city of Berlin. Twenty-five-year-old Leonard Marnham is assigned to a British-American surveillance team.Though only a pawn in an international plot that is never fully revealed to him, Leonard uses his secret work to escape the bonds of his ordinary life - and to lose his unwanted innocence; and a horrific turn of events leads the reader gasping.



In our Comments Box do suggest other novels that evoke the period of division between the two Germanies - there are lots of fascinating reads out there, which ones would you recommend?

Two complementary books set in Japan

We are very lucky to to have great people who introduce us to books that perhaps we wouldn't come across in everyday life. The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd is without doubt a real find! Here, we bring together two fabulous books that superbly describe Japan in the earlier part of the 20th century, each featuring a very determined woman, who struggles to find her position in contemporary society. Both books, we have to say, are firmly in our Top 20! Beautiful style, evocative of locale....need we say more?


http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2160 A young woman travels from Edinburgh to Peking in the early 20th century, and writes about her experiences in diary form. She is trapped in a loveless marriage to a stiff and conventional man, falls in love with a Japanese warrior and pays dearly for that passion. It is then that Mary's real journey begins, as she courageously starts to forge a new life for herself in Tokyo, just as Japan is witnessing the first rumblings of the industrial powerhouse it was to become. Just a wonderful book!



http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/1284 Chiyo-chan is a nine year old girl from a small fishing village,who has experienced a simple life until her Mother becomes fatally ill. She is sent by her Father to Gion, one of the Geisha areas of districts of Kyoto. She grows into the most stunning Geisha Sayuri and this is her story beautifully told. There are references, too, to actual places frequented by geisha and their patrons, such as the Ichiriki Ochaya, and brings the life of a Geisha of Gion to life (and if you are fortunate you can still catch a glimpse of a traditional 'Geisha' in the alleys of Gion in Kyoto)


If you feel inspired to read a couple of books set in, and about Tokyo, then take a look at this past blog - these book choices are designed to help you get a new and inspired perspective and to see a location through an author's eyes. There are many more books "set in" on our website: www.TripFiction.com - do drop by.

http://tripfiction.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/two-books-for-starters-in-tokyo.html

These are the books we would take to Sicily

Pick up some of our suggested novels if you are heading for Sicily and get right under the skin of the largest of the Mediterranean islands! These are our book tips to help you get a real feel for this complex and beautiful place, and to get the most out of a visit there. Click on the covers to find our more.



From Guardian columnist Matthew Fort comes this delicious travelogue, as he muses about life, food, family and sooo much more, as he scoots round Sicily on a Vespa.

"If you are travelling to Sicily you absolutely have to take this "






If you are holidaying in peak holiday time, in August, then this seems a very apt choice to add to our list. Andrea Camilleri has written several books featuring Inspector Montalbano, gastronome, and solver of crimes, all set around, and hugely evocative of the island. Some of Camilleri's novels have recently been adapted for the BBC.






Starting in Palermo this book trawls through a bit of art, food, history and literature to shed light on southern Italy's legacy of political corruption and violent crime. It brings to life the doors banging shut, the odd voice, but you don't see anyone about. Spooky! This is the kind of book that gets under the skin of a place and is a great read to explore Sicily, offering all kinds of interesting information...




We have plenty more books set in Sicily to tempt you, so please do browse here. And if you would like to us to add any books set in Sicily that have captured the feel and flavour of the island for you - and we don't already feature them - then please let us know. Help us to build up this site and make it a really superb resource for travellers!

Novels and "Tells Alls" for Mile High readers

About to jet off to your chosen destination? Then pick up one of our novels set  around flying. Choose a novel or a "tell all".  Find out what really goes on behind the Business Class curtain, the goings on backstage when you are asleep, or what it is like to be airborne and work your socks off. Ever wanted to know what can happen if you misbehave as a passenger? Is there really a cupboard to store a body if someone dies? Come and circumnavigate the globe via books, and then touch down at your chosen destination and choose your novel via www.TripFiction.com. Lots of amusing insights and storylines in our Mile High fiction section! Time to jet off.....

Our collection of "flying" novels can now be found over on Pinterest

Warm up for the Olympics with more London based fiction

Eyes will soon be directed towards London and the big sporting event coming up there. We bring you some more novels set in different areas of  the Metropolis, which, we feel, offer the reader a quintessential feel to the city, in all its wonderful diversity. 

If you decide you would like to buy one of our featured books, you would help us enormously by clicking on the link. This will take you straight through to the book and then to Amazon; for each sale that clicks through from our site - and, dear reader, this includes Porsche cars as well as books - then we receive a small percentage from that sale. This will enable us to get funding together so that we can build this site into a truly top resource for those who want to experience a location via fiction. If you are new to this concept, then just give our recommended books a go, follow the characters along the capital's streets, see the English in their own environment, and enjoy the city from a very different and intimate perspective.

Stratford East - Barbara Nadel brings us a new and original pair of detectives in poverty-stricken Stratford East, whose inhabitants are cynical about any possible improvements the Olympic Park can make to their wretched lives. Here another set of Londoners is impelled towards disaster. Maria, a faded stand-up comedian whose fame reached its apogee 20 years ago, seeks the help of dodgy private investigator Lee Arnold when she begins to experience frightening delusions. Maybe they're not all in her mind, which is, frankly, rather filthy....... http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2259


Belgravia - Disgruntled servants working in salubrious Belgravia. Not all are unhappy with their lot, for there are Dickensian below-stairs exploiters as well as thoughtless bankers and aristocrats in the grand apartments above, although the chauffeur who finds himself obliged to service both the mistress and the daughter of the house is uncertain as to his good fortune. The novel's plot forms a complex web in which power sways back and forth between employer and employed, where every coming or going has an observer, and it's not long before we anticipate at least two deaths on the way. http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2258


SOHO - Alice lives in Soho and her life revolves around her career and attending glamorous premieres and parties. But her life is completely transformed when her partner decides to buy a puppy. Hilarious anecdotes and how to clear up mess (do not wear a scarf!) in this romp through London.....

"A must read if you love dogs!!"

http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2261



In a past blog we have featured books set in the following areas of London:

Greenwich -   http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/1901

Brick Lane -  http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2135

Hatton Garden - http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2190

Fiction fit for the Olympics 2012

Capture the Olympic feel through these novels - spectate ringside, via TV or delve into a good read, you are never going to be far from some sporting intrigue and achievement over the next few weeks.

And if you would you like to add any other Olympic-themed books that you know of, then please use the Comments Box below to notify us - let's try and build up a comprehensive list.


Cox by Kate Lace
http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2249

Rowing. Dan, Rollo and Amy. In a boat Dan and Rollo row perfectly together, but on land they despise each other. So with the addition of Amy to the mix, sporting behaviour is the last thing on their mind. May the best man win? Not a chance. From Henley Regatta to the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, and finally to the biggest race of their lives,the Olympics, their determination to settle old scores threatens to capsize everyone's plans.


Gold by Chris Cleave
http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2146

Cycling. This book opens at the 2004 Olympic Games with Zoe about to race for gold in the Women's Sprint Cycling event. Three GB cyclists, Kate, Jack and Zoe who go back years. Kate and Zoe are rivals. This is the world of the Olympic cycling athlete, preparing for London 2012. But it is so much more than cycling!




The Fastest Loser by Gideon A Mailer http://www.tripfiction.com/Book/2250

After witnessing the senseless deaths at the Munich Olympic Village in 1972, Herman aims to find sporting heroes, with different nationalities and ethnicities, who are willing to conceive and raise a child. In essence, to make new life from love and bridge ethnic divides. What better place to do so than in the Olympic Village, a place where the world's youth assemble in their sexual and athletic prime. "What a great novel! It makes me wish I were back in the Village!"