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Original poster

Books that whisk you away to far flung exotic places

34 replies

Newmumtoo1 · 12/02/2023 09:11

Fellow readers, can you please recommend books that you loved which are set in far flung destinations. I won’t have a chance to visit any where other than my local supermarket anytime soon. So I would love to loose my self in a distant land. Up for any genres, time periods and writers, looking for gorgeous descriptions so that I can soak up some sun. Thank you x

OP posts:
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deeplybaffled · 15/02/2023 23:44

Extra Virgin - Annie Hawes (Italy)
A Year in Provence - Peter Mayle
Mother Without a Mask Patricia Holton (UAE)
I’ve read all of them multiple times and will probably re read many more times again😀

MistsofAvalon · 15/02/2023 23:43

Love in the time of cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

And also Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys.

StrawHatOnTheParcelShelf · 15/02/2023 23:36

oh, and Disgrace - South Africa

StrawHatOnTheParcelShelf · 15/02/2023 23:34

I love books like that too!

The God of Small Things - India
The Shadow of the Wind - Barcelona
Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Greek islands
Like Water for Chocolate - rural Mexico

WashAsDelicates · 15/02/2023 23:28

Frangipani by Célestine Hitiura Vaite.

GracePooleslaugh · 15/02/2023 22:09

Oldie but goodie Shogun by James Clavell.

ChicoryDip · 15/02/2023 22:05

I'd add Out of Africa and I Dreamed of Africa to the list.

neverendinglauaundry · 15/02/2023 17:41

Posted too soon - a great book and does exactly what the OP asks for

neverendinglauaundry · 15/02/2023 17:40

ChessieFL · 12/02/2023 10:19

My Family And Other Animals and the rest of the Corfu Trilogy by Gerald Durrell - beautiful writing about a beautiful island.

Chocolat and other Joanne Harris books - lovely South of France setting.

Not sure if either of those are exotic though!

Came here to say my family and other animals

TattiePants · 15/02/2023 17:38

@MarkWithaC beat me to it, I was going to recommend Pachinko (Korea and Japan). Also, The Garden of Evening Mists (Malaya) and Still Life (Italy).

mimbleandlittlemy · 15/02/2023 17:32

Mrs Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce
The Architect's Apprentice by Elif Shafak
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
The Colour by Rose Tremain
If you read the Balkan Trilogy, do also read the Levant Trilogy which follows on from it

MarkWithaC · 15/02/2023 14:59

Pachinko?
A Suitable Boy! Wonderful Indian setting (if turbulent; it covers pre-Partition and Partition itself) AND the most immersive, witty, warm, gripping family saga imaginable.

MrsTopaz · 12/02/2023 20:38

Another vote for poisonwood bible and will also add the Last Concubine-amazing

Original poster
Newmumtoo1 · 12/02/2023 19:09

Thanks everyone! Going to be downloading loads of samples. Appreciate everyone who has commented and made a suggestion. Hope you all have a restful evening x

OP posts:
FallonofDynasty · 12/02/2023 17:14

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Wild Swans (nonfiction)
Holy Fools by Joanne Harris
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Constant Gardener and The Night Manager by John le Carre
Empire of the Sun by JG Ballard

rc22 · 12/02/2023 17:05

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

OliviaEmmaSmith · 12/02/2023 16:29

The Dust Diaries, Owen Sheers

The Night Circus and The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, more fantasy but definitely transport you with beautiful descriptions.

ZeldaWillTellYourFortune · 12/02/2023 16:22

Anything by MM Kaye.

LadyWithLapdog · 12/02/2023 16:05

A state of wonder - in the Amazons, if I remember correctly

LadyWithLapdog · 12/02/2023 16:04

The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning

newtb · 12/02/2023 15:59

The far pavillons by MM Kaye - set in India not long before the mutiny - about an orphan brought up as Indian.
They also wrote a murder mystery but can't remember the title.

Mila1234567 · 12/02/2023 15:56

The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost
Hot Milk by Deborah Levy
The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux

thirdistheonewiththehairychest · 12/02/2023 15:49

Shantaram! It's an autobiography written by an Australian convict who escaped prison and fled to India. It's completely gripping! Literally could not put it down.

Original poster
Newmumtoo1 · 12/02/2023 15:45

how intriguing! @Belladonna208 I will download a sample, just to see the controversy. It’s now on the list!

OP posts:
Belladonna208 · 12/02/2023 15:41

She's not very PC these days (many of her heroes are truly dreadful and some of the plots VERY questionable from a modern stance) but if it's far-flung destinations you're after, I grew up reading Victoria Holt, mainly for that glimpse so many gave of other lands and cultures....