Although you can’t get out and travel in person, losing yourself in a story where the characters journey to different places is a nice alternative. Thank goodness books (whether hard copy, digital or audio format) still provide an easy escape from daily life during these challenging times. If you need a distraction, settle into your favorite spot and enjoy a tale or two. Here are 7 Travel Books to Inspire Wanderlust.
The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigani
Based on the true love story of her own grandparents, veteran author Adriana Trigani weaves a wonderful tale of a young man and woman who meet first in rural Italy. Years later, they connect again in Little Italy in New York after their families have emigrated to the United States. The Shoemaker’s Wife is a multi-generational story that spans both World Wars and provides lush details of the struggles and joyful moments of an immigrant family in the early 20th century.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
If you’ve always wanted to visit Scotland, you’ll enjoy this multi-book (8) historical saga by Diana Gabaldon. Similar to the Time Traveler’s Wife, this tale of an English woman named Claire who repeatedly slips back in time to Scotland two centuries earlier is a fascinating read. The city life of London provides a great contrast to life in the rugged wilds of Scotland.
After accidentally time traveling, Claire meets a handsome, brave Highlander named Jamie whom she weds (although she is also married in the present she left behind in England). Outlander became a series is now available on Netflix. You might want to read the books as well because they provide a lot of wonderful extra details left out of the television version. I thought it was especially interesting that the author lets Claire apply her medical and historical knowledge from England in the 1940s to her life 200 years earlier in Scotland, and the consequences that unusual knowledge causes.
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
The Thorn Birds was published in 1977, and later made into a movie that debuted in 1983. Set in the rugged Outback of Australia, this novel details a multi-generational story of the Cleary family, ranchers trying to carve out a living while struggling with family secrets, the whim of nature and the complications of desire.
Forbidden love between the beautiful Cleary daughter Meggy and the handsome local priest Father Ralph de Bricassart is a central part of the story. When Meggie’s jealous spinster aunt sets a trap to separate the two, the temptation of power and professional success in the halls of the Vatican in Italy is too much. But love has a strength all its own. It’s easy to get lost in this sweeping saga, and if you see the movie, you’ll be reminded again how good looking Richard Chamberlain was in his youth.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
A beautiful tale of Marie-Laure, a young girl in cultured France raised by a loving father, and Werner, an orphaned boy living in austere Germany with the terror of World War II as the backdrop. After working on the novel for 10 years, the author of All the Light We Cannot See won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2015 with this elegantly written story. This is one of my favorite books for both the descriptive writing and the author’s accurate portrayal of the power of hope when the world is in chaos.
The plot begins in Paris, the true home of blind Marie-Laure and her locksmith father. After the Nazis arrive in France, father and daughter move to a relative’s house in the walled city of Saint Malo by the sea. After memorizing a miniature model of the neighborhood created by her father, Marie-Laure is able to navigate outside. Meanwhile, Werner has developed a talent for repairing radios that earns him a spot with the cruel academy for Hitler Youth. When their paths cross, first over the airwaves and later, as he helps track the resistance in France, friendship and integrity are tested in a life or death decision.
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Pat Conroy is exceptional at vividly describing a scene or a character, and he is truly in his element telling this story of a dysfunctional family creating the illusion of a contented small town life in the marshy low country of South Carolina.
But a troubled childhood comes back to haunt the grown siblings in The Prince of Tides. When successful poet Savannah tries to commit suicide in New York City, twin brother Tom is asked to travel there and help her therapist unravel the blocked memories causing her pain. Unlocking their past requires a test of his inner strength and a chance to heal himself through a new love. Nick Nolte and Barbara Streisand starred in the movie.
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
A young reporter records an interview with a mysterious man. The stranger (Louis) tells of being attacked one night by a powerful vampire named Lestat in 1791. His immortal journey starts near his home on a French plantation in New Orleans and spans 200 years, including a period in the company of other vampires in an ornate old theater in Paris. A mesmerizing tale that is both haunting and vivid.
Interview with the Vampire was her first book and the beginning of a series of Vampire tales by Anne Rice that are legend in the horror genre. Two decades after publication, it was also made into a movie starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and a very young Kirsten Dunst.
A decade before my first trip to New Orleans, I discovered this vampire classic which was a wonderful preview of the unusual Gothic side of the Crescent city. It’s very easy to imagine both Lestat and Louis wandering through the above ground crypts in St. Louis 1, the most famous and haunted cemetery near Bourbon Street.
Iberia by James Michener
This book is the only one on the list that is truly travel literature. At over 800 pages, it’s not a quick read but worth every moment of your time if you want to experience Spain through the eyes of a gifted writer. He covers art at the Prado, small towns and big cities, bullfighters, castles and kings, local customs, food, drink and more facets of life than you can imagine.
The first time I traveled abroad, I went to spend a Junior year semester studying in Madrid. Although I knew the language and had read classic literature as a Spanish major, I felt a bit underprepared for what it would be like living in a new country. I bought the book Iberia to read on the long plane ride. I quickly fell under the spell of James Michener’s words, and in love with the country before we even touched down at Barajas airport.
Happy Reading!
From historical romance and drama to horror and authentic travel literature, I hope you find one or more choices among these 7 Travel Books to Inspire Wanderlust to help you get away from it all (mentally at least). Here’s wishing we can all return to safely taking new journeys some day soon.
What’s your favorite travel story? Please share it in the comments below.
Great book!
Hope you enjoy them!