It's been a long, long, often scary winter, especially for those of you across the pond in the USA. Here are 5 beautiful books to curl up with and get through the rest of the cold, harsh months and perhaps give you a little inspiration for traveling in the warmer weather.
The Sun And Other Stars by Brigid Pasulka
Set on the Italian Riviera, where a butcher's son is grieving the loss of two of his family. His life is then swept upside down when a celebrity on the run crashes into town...
The book captures the warmth of the Riviera, as well as the acute heartbreak of loss, which can be survived and turned into hope.
Paris Letters by Janice McLeod
Based on a true story, this beautifully written book sees an advertisement writer up and leave her job in Santa Monica, California, to move to Paris, where she falls in love. To finance her new life, she sets up a business selling illustrated letters from Paris as a subscription service.
Sweet, without being sickly and sentimental, this is the perfect book to read if you're feeling a bit uninspired about your life. Warning: It will encourage you to want to take big chances!
Vampires In The Lemon Grove by Karen Russell
A Kafka-esque collection of dreamy short stories, Vampires In The Lemon Grove takes in such subjects as a teenage girl who is being contacted through trinkets, Chinese silkworkers who turn into silkworms and a masseuse who can heal using a client's tattoos.
It's as strange as it sounds and defies genre, but will take you a million miles away from cold, bleak weather.
A Week In Winter by Maeve Binchy
Maeve's swansong novel, published after her death in 2012 is drenched in her trademark feel-good prose. A rebellious Irish girl runs off to New York with her new beau, only to find out that dreams are not all they seem. Apon returning to her hometown, she turns a dilapidated mansion into a swish new hotel, much to the dismay of the residents. The novel follow the first week of the hotel's opening and the characters who comfort and conflict with each other.
This is perfect light reading with believable characters and a comforting warmth, like a nice cup of thick hot chocolate.
Bonjour, Tristesse by Francoise Sagan
One of my favourite novellas of all-time, I always read this when I need to be transported to a hazy sumnmer. This lazy, hazy novella scandalised France on it's release in the 1950s. It focuses on 17-year-old Celine, who is staying with her father in Southern France, but to say anymore would ruin the plot...
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