Seven literary locations for your next holiday: you’ve read the books, now see where they are set
From the old-school glamour of Long Island and the thatched cottages of southern England, to the watering holes of Havana and the Kenyan coast, explore seven landscapes straight from the pages of literature
No matter how sparkling a story is or how charismatic its characters, sometimes it’s the setting that steals the show. Vivid descriptions of the changing seasons or a flaming sunset viewed from a palm-fringed beach have our imaginations working overtime. Listed are seven novels, and literary landscapes, that transport the reader to another time and place.
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (1994)
The plot: set on the Greek island of Kefalonia, Louis de Bernières tale of love and war is 25 years old next year. A young officer arrives with the invading Italian army and finds himself billeted at the local doctor’s house, where he soon falls for the man’s daughter, Pelagia, who is already engaged to a Greek resistance fighter.
The place: the star of the novel, and the 2001 film, is Kefalonia itself. Photogenic harbour villages such as Fiskardo and Assos compete for visitors’ attention, along with a clutch of dreamy beaches such as Myrtos, which is frequently included in lists celebrating the world’s most breathtaking stretches of sand. Fortunately, the largest island in the Ionian group is relatively untouched by mass tourism.
The Great Gatsby (1925)
