Just because you’re going to lie by the pool and try to get away from all the stresses of daily life doesn’t mean you need to read chick lit or airport thrillers while lazing on your sunlounger. Relaxation can go hand in hand with delving into another time period too. Fancy escaping to the trenches with some Great War poets, or to a 14th-century monastery with ascetic monks? Or how about the criminal underworlds of Victorian London or the slave markets of pre-Civil War Missouri? Here are some of the best pieces of historical fiction to enjoy on your holiday.
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
The Neapolitan novels offer a deliciously nuanced dissection of female friendship, and the first book is perhaps the most intimate, delving into Elena and Lia’s childhood friendship in the 50s and where it all began. As competitive and ambitious as they are loyal and loving, the girls are drawn to each other from the start and bound forever after amid the poverty and tensions of Naples in post-war Italy and the concurrent changing expectations for women. Ann Goldstein’s translation is a marvel, offering the unique pulsating rhythms of spoken Italian to English-speaking readers. A coming-of-age story you can get lost in on the beach.
