Books about friendship and places to inspire a birthday travel hamper

[WhitegreeNcandle]

Hi,

My best friend turns 50 this month and she’s had a really tough time recently. I want to get her a special gift so was looking at books with a friendship them. I came across Elena Ferrante My Brilliant friend and thought perfect. We also love to travel so I thought I could do a little hamper with books about places we’d like to go together.

So for examples My Brillaint friend would be a trip to Naples/pompeii.

Id love a few more but am stuck! We’d love to go to Mull, Scotland, the Camino way and St. Petersburg together. Clearly the last one is dreaming.

so, hit me with your books based abroad with a strong friendship theme please!!!

I can’t think of any friend books, but my favourite travel book is Patrick Leigh Fermor’s A Time of Gifts

Still life Sarah Winman

Mrs Benson Beetle

I just read Call of the Camino. Easy read all about walking and friendships!

I’ve also read still life and Mrs bensons beetle, both excellent!

Tuk-Tuk to the Road: The Remarkable True Story of the Ultimate International Road Trip - 2 friends drive a tuk tuk from Bangkok back to UK to raise money for a mental health charity. They both write bits so you get both if their perspectives, and is a good book about both their journey and their friendship

It’s not the Camino but As I Walked Out One Midsummer’s Morn by Laurie Lee is a classic about walking and Spain.

For St Petersburg, Ice Road by Gillian Slovo is wonderfully evocative and has some lovely friendships and relationships in it. It is set in the 1930s and start of WW2 so touches on some grim subjects but it’s a great read. I also like Helen Dunmore’s The Siege and The Betrayal - again, grim times but very well-written.

Good luck, this is such a lovely idea!

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan & a trip to San Francisco or to China.

These are brilliant thank you so much!

‘Horse Boy’ is a lovely book about a father and his autistic son travelling across the plains of Russia meeting all the horse tribes, as the father realised his son had a natural affinity with horses.

www.amazon.co.uk/Horse-Boy-Fathers-Miraculous-Journey/dp/0141033630/ref=asc_df_0141033630?mcid=8e322b19f84e34828ab2643e591f7946&th=1&psc=1&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=697216353069&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16660485873175691050&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045129&hvtargid=pla-461010054235&psc=1&hvocijid=16660485873175691050-0141033630-&hvexpln=0&gad_source=1

Elena farrante - my beautiful friend
also the lady who did the podcast “how to fail” (elisabeth day?) she wrote a book about the importance of friends and friendship- might be good?

I second "As I walked out" by Laurie Lee. I know India's not on the list, but "A Suitable Boy" is evocative in its descriptions and details many lovely friendships, not least Lata and Malati.