Bibliotherapy: Books to Transport you to Faraway Lands

Symptom: Longing for faraway travels

Cure: Books to transport you to another place

How are we all feeling about travel at the moment.  I have heard people say they can’t imagine travelling again.  I read an article where the author said the desire to travel is no longer there, and that the experience of the pandemic will make us all much keener to remain at home in the future. This may be the case for some, but not me.  Although I am content to continue at home and certainly in the UK for the moment,  I long to travel again.  I miss seeing other places.  I can’t wait until I can visit new and familiar places and wake up in one country and go to bed in another.  Travel is such a lovely part of life and I know I will miss it this year.

If you love to travel, and yearn for foreign climates and landscapes.  If you dream of sipping cool drinks and nibbling olives in shady squares.  If you long to pack a rucksack and take off.  If hanker after overnight trains and planes.  If you dream of endless sandy beaches and turquoise seas. Then these books are for  you. These are not necessarily ‘travel books’ but book which will help you lose yourself in the countries and places that one day we may all be able to enjoy to again.

The Thousand Lights Hotel by Emylia Hall

Travel to the idyllic island of Elba, off the coast of Tuscany.  A hotel set amongst emerald lawns, strawberry bushes, olive groves and lemon trees.  Have your palate seduced by the kitchen which produces bruschetta topped with the sweetest tomatoes, freshly caught grilled fish and sweet tarts dusted in almonds and sugar.  This is a beautiful story of discovery and truth.  I adore it.

The Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher

Everyone has somewhere filled with holiday memories of endless sun bleached days, the place they would return to again and again. For me that is always Cornwall. The Shell Seekers set in Cornwall is a wonderful  great big juicy saga of a read and will transport you not only to the beaches of cornwall but the streets of London and the quintessentially english Cotswolds.

Vanilla Beans and Brodo by Isabella Dusi

Isabel and her Australian husband visited the Tuscan village of Montalcino, they loved it so much they sold up and moved there.  This a wonderful account of the life they built within an Italian community.  History, food, football and festivals all bring to life, the place and the people who live there.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

You may feel you have spent long enough discovering yourself in the recent weeks of lockdown.  However journey through   Italy, India and Bali with Liz on her journey of self discovery  and you will soon be longing to dust down the backpack.

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle

Who isn’t dreaming of fields of sunflowers, warm baguettes and long lazy lunches under the shade of grape vines?  This oldie but goodie is a great place to start if your French fancies can be no more than fancies this year.

Others

The Mammoth Book of Wild Journeys ed by Jon E. Lewis

Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah MacDonald

Wild by Cheryl Straed

South by Ernest Shakleton

Tales of the City by Armisted Maupin

A Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell