8 Books That Let You Travel the World from Your Armchair

21st April, 2020

Books can transport you anywhere in the world. From Singapore to Chile, Russia to Uganda, we’ve got books that will let you travel the globe without leaving your armchair. 

 

1. How We Disappeared

by Jing-Jing Lee

 

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2020

LONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2020

 

Weaving together two timelines and two life-changing secrets, and shining a light on the little-known story of Singapore’s comfort women during the Second World War, How We Disappeared is an evocative, profoundly moving and utterly dazzling novel heralding the arrival of a new literary star.

Find out more about How We Disappeared here. 

  

2. Humiliation

by Paulina Flores (translated by Megan McDowell)

From the dusty backstreets of Santiago and the sun-baked alleyways of impoverished fishing villages to the dark stairwells of urban apartment blocks, in these stories Paulina Flores paints an intimate picture of a world in which the shadow of humiliation, of delusion, seduction and sabotage, is never far away. This is a Chile we seldom see in fiction. 

 ‘Every once in a while one encounters a new voice and thinks: they will last.’ El País

 

Find out more about Humiliation here. 

 

 

3. Footnotes: A Journey Round Britain in the Company of Great Writers

by Peter Fiennes

 

Through past and present, the country and the city, Footnotes is a unique exploration of the British Isles through an amused and literary lens, by the author of Oak and Ash and Thorn, a Guardian Best Book of the Year.

 ‘Marvellously quotable… Fiennes’ literary journey makes for a provocative and engaging book.’ – Financial Times

 

Find out more about Footnotes here. 

 

 

4. In the Shadow of Wolves

by Alvydas Šlepikas (translated by Romas Kinka)

 

As victorious Russian troops sweep across East Prussia, a group of desperate children face a new battle. Confronted by critical food shortages and the onset of a bitterly cold winter, these ‘wolf children’ secretly cross the border into Lithuania. In a world still reeling from the devastation of war, the children must risk everything to survive.

 In the Shadow of Wolves is a story of resilience, devastation and, ultimately, hope. Based on meticulous research, Alvydas Šlepikas’s stunningly powerful debut novel has won over readers and critics across the world. 

 ‘This novel’s unflinching portrait of a forgotten tragedy is haunting.’ The Times, Best New Historical Fiction

 

Find out more about In the Shadow of Wolves here. 

 

 

5. Things that Fall from the Sky

by Selja Ahava (translated by Emily and Fleur Jeremiah)

 

A young girl loses her mother when a block of ice falls from the sky. A woman wins the jackpot twice. A man is struck by lightning four times. Coincidence? Or something more?

 Selja Ahava, one of Finland’s best-loved novelists, weaves these stories together in an unforgettable, one-of-a-kind fable about the twists and turns that can define a lifetime. 

 ‘Leaves other tales told from a child’s-eye view in the dust… An intricate and tender novel.’ Literary Review

 

Find out more about Things that Fall from the Sky here. 

 

 

6. Kintu

by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

 

The year is 1750. Kintu Kidda sets out for the capital to pledge allegiance to the new leader of the Buganda kingdom.

In this epic tale of fate, fortune and legacy, Jennifer Makumbi vibrantly brings to life this corner of Africa and this colourful family as she reimagines the history of Uganda through the cursed bloodline of the Kintu clan.

 

SHORTLISTED FOR AN EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL WRITING AWARD 2019

LONGLISTED FOR THE ETISALAT PRIZE FOR DEBUT AFRICAN FICTION

Find out more about Kintu here. 

 

 

7.  The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone

by Felicity McLean

 

Australia, 1992. The hottest summer on record.

We lost all three girls that summer. Let them slip away like the words of some half-remembered song and when one came back, she wasn’t the one we were trying to recall to begin with.

Now, years later, Tikka has returned home and is beginning to piece together what really happened. The summer that shaped her.  The girls she couldn’t forget.

 ‘A coming-of-age drama as much as a crime story, this isn’t a book for those who like things wrapped up neatly, but readers who enjoy something haunting, atmospheric and genuinely mysterious have a treat in store.’ Guardian

 

Find out more about The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone here. 

 

 

 

 

8. Frankenstein in Baghdad

by Ahmed Saadawi (translated by Jonathan Wright)

 

From the rubble-strewn streets of US-occupied Baghdad, Hadi collects body parts from the dead, which he stitches together to form a corpse. Frankenstein in Baghdad brilliantly captures the horror and black humour of a city at war.

 ‘Saadawi leavens his satirical horror with dark humour, stitching his novel together with the same lurching vitality as his title character’s monstrous body to vividly evoke his own dismembered country.’ Guardian Books of the Year

 

WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR ARABIC FICTION

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2018

 

Find out more about Frankenstein in Baghdad here.