8 great books set across Europe that take you through its beautiful landscapes and culture

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Ireland

Lyrebird by Cecelia Ahern

A powerful, touching story depicting a 26-year old magically and naturally, talented Laura Button, nicknamed Lyrebird, and Soloman, the arbitrator, the peacekeeper, the counselor. Set in the beautiful mountains of Gougane Barra, Cork, Lyrebird is a riveting story that will immerse you in the world of the Lyrebird, a rare and shy Australian bird that mimics sounds.

Laura has been living a secret life for ten years, not knowing that her life is on the edge of a momentous change that begins when she sets her eyes on Soloman.

The message from the tale is make you think. It’s a reminder for all of us what’s beautiful to find beauty in the world and our everyday.

Katherine’s ideal world in London comes crashing down when she is passed up for promotion, at her art gallery and she quits to show her discontent. A couple of days later, she breaks up with her not-boyfriend, John, for his utter lack of respect for her and her work. A visit to her Dad’s house in Sheffield and Katherine realizes what she’s been missing all along. Kit, aka Christopher.

Sharp and witty dialogue between leads always wins my heart. For once the characters also decided to talk very openly about their feelings, and I love it when characters show this kind of maturity in behavior and action.

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

A wedding party. A remote island. 150 guests. Each with a secret, they are protecting. Each with a motive to murder. A deadly storm. A killer among the guests.

Jules, the bride, is the director of an online fashion magazine. Will, the groom, is a TV actor in a popular show on survival in the wild. They are a match made in heaven. But does everyone think so? The exotic island has a past, and so do its guests. Is the coming together at the island a coincidence or a cruel twist of fate? The wedding cake is cut, but so is the lifeline of a person. The fury of the storm brings the realization that a killer also roams among them.

I loved the Guest List because it managed to create a mystery around the murderer and surprisingly also around who gets murdered. That revelation is as shocking as the reveal of the murderer.

Romania

This is by far my favorite book by the Queen of Mystery, I think. And I won’t shy away from admitting I loved the movie too.

In the middle of the night, Orient Express has stopped further progress due to a snow blizzard. In the morning after there is a discovery of a murder, an illustrious man, with an evil past. With the train stuck between nowhere, the murderer is bound to be on the train. What Hercule Poirot gradually realizes after he begins an investigation, is that each passenger on the train was related to the murderer in some way. How will he solve this impossible mystery with limited means and resources before the train is evacuated?

London, United Kingdom

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

The story starts with a Journal entry by Alicia Berenson, where she explains that she’s scripting this journal because her husband insisted she writes it to precise her internal thoughts. Alicia is a painter, and Gabriel Berenson, her husband, is a photographer. They are happily married for seven years. In the second chapter, we learn that one night Gabriel was (murdered) shot by Alicia in the face five times, and since that incident, she has become silent. Her enduring silence turns the story into a grand mystery. She hasn’t spoken to anyone except she drew a painting titled ALCESTIS soon after the murder.

Nothing can prepare for the twisted end and the final reveal. You have to read this to appreciate the story.

Paris, France

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Although The Nightingale is a fictional story about times during the German war, I don’t think anything other than the characters' names is fictional. I have been to concentration camps while visiting Germany and the horrors described in the novel are real. But what is more important are the deeply emotional stories of the two sisters Vianna and Isabella. You will see their transformation to bold women happen right through the story and you’ll be touched by the poignancy. The novel has a bitter-sweet ending but I couldn’t ask for anything more. Don’t miss this wonderful historical story about women’s role in the war.

England, United Kingdom

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

‘Between Life and Death there is a Library,’ she said. ‘And within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to undertake another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices.

I cannot help but recall the famous quote by Albert Camus here “Life is the sum of all your choices.” That is the summary of this book. Through a unique story of the in-between library, this simple message is conveyed in quite an extraordinary fashion.

Matt Haig has always promoted Mental Health though his books. This book is another step in the direction.

Sweden

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

This is a story about a bank robbery. On a normal day in Stockholm, a robber enters a bank meaning to rob a bank. When the bank employee raises an alarm, the robber runs into the nearest stairwell and walks into an apartment viewing. Directing a robbery situation into a hostage drama. There are eight people at the viewing. The police surround the apartment and manage to get the hostages released. But when the police storm the apartment looking for the robber, they find it empty, with no trace leading to the robber, but for a gunshot sound and a pool of blood in the apartment.