Reading Your Way into Your Next Family Adventure (The Europe Edition)

One can never be too prepared to embark on a new adventure somewhere in the world.  One of my favorite ways to get ready for travel is to find books set in the places I would like to visit. Not history books or guide books but fictional books. Immersing myself in a good story allows me much needed wanderlust, as well as learning about a place I plan to explore.  We’ve pulled together a few of our favorite reading recommendations for your next European adventure.

There are countless incredible travel books out there for all ages. We haven’t read them all but we’ve read some pretty good ones and now we’ve rounded them up for you and and for your kids below in our Europe Edition.  Especially great for kids, providing a frame of reference helps them to get excited about a trip they probably don’t yet understand. It also helps them to be more engaged when they arrive.   For more tips and tricks on preparing for a journey read The Ins and Outs of Itinerary Planning, and Getting Ready for the Big Trip 

This post focuses on reading about adventures in Europe. We have also covered reading adventures in South America and the USA. Grab a book, and your passport and let’s go!

Reading your way into your next adventure in France

• The DaVinci Code – by Dan Brown. Set in Paris a murder in the Louvre starts an international murder mystery.
• A Year in Provence – by Peter Mayle. Set in Southern France, Peter buys a 200 yr old farmhouse in Provence and sets of on a series of challenges and discoveries. .
• The Elegance of the Hedgehog – by Muriel Barbery. Set in Paris – explores the upstairs-downstairs goings-on of a posh Parisian apartment building.
• A Moveable Feast – by Ernest Hemingway. Ernest Hemingway’s classic memoir of Paris in the 1920s.
• The Paris Wife – by Paula McLain. Read in conjunction with A Moveable Feast . This is the same story but told from the prospective of Hadley Richardson, his wife.
• Lessons in French – by Hilary Reyl. Set in Paris – a story about a Yale graduate’s year in Paris as an assistant to a legendary American photographer. Appropriate for TEENs.
• The Royal Diaries – Marie Antoinette – by Kathryn Lansky. Set in Paris and Versailles, these are the diaries of Marie Antoinette – Ages 9-12yrs.
• Just One Day – by Gayle Forman. A post HS girls goes on a 3-week European tour and has a magical 24 hrs in Paris. Targeted to TEENs and YA.

Reading your way into your next trip to Italy

Reading your way into your next adventure in Spain

• Winter in Madrid – by CJ Sansom. A young British vet is sent to Spain to gather intelligence from a school friend who is a well connected Spanish businessman. A gripping spy novel set in the Franco era.
• The Time in Between – by María Dueñas. Set in Madrid, a spanish dressmaker who designs for Nazi wives becomes a brave spy for the British during the reign of Franco.
• The Sun Also Rises – by Ernest Hemingway. Set in Paris and in Pamplona, Spain – about 2 characters during the post WWI generation.
• Don Quijote – by Miguel de Cervantes. The adventures of a self created knight errant Don Quijote and his faithful squire Sancho Panza. Set in 16th century Spain and the most famous novel out there set in Spain.
• Driving Over Lemons – An Optimist in Spain- by Chris Stewart.  Set in Andalucia – about Americans who buy an isolated sheep farm in the Alpujarra Mountains.  Appropriate for TEENS.
• I, Juan de Pareja – by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino. Set in Sevilla and tells the story of the slave of the famous painter Velazquez.  For ages 12-18yrs.
• SASS Spain or Shine – by Michelle Jellan. Set in San Sebastian this is a story of a college student studying abroad.  S.A.S.S (Students across the Seven Seas) is a good series to follow For ages 12+. Check out all the books in the series to see where else they travel.

Reading your way into your next trip to England

• Londoners – by Craig Taylor.  A portrait of modern day London that is as rich and lively as the city itself.  Stories, gripes, memories and dreams of the city.
• Notes from a Small Island – by Bill Bryson. A witty and detailed observations of life in a variety of towns and villages of England.
• Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf. A day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway as she prepares to host a party in her affluent Westminster home.
• Tunnel Vision – Keith Lowe.  On the eve of his wedding, Andy makes a drunken bet that he can travel through every single Tube station in a single day.  Great study on the Tube!
• Love, Nina – by Nina Stibbe. The author moved to London in 1982 and was hired as a nanny to the sons of London Review of Books editor Mary-Kay Wilmers and her ex-husband, director Stephan Frears.  Appropriate for TEENs.
• Harry Potter series – J.K Rowling. This highly acclaimed series of 7 books about wizards is set in London.  Great for TWEENs and TEENs.

Reading your way into your next adventure in Ireland

Reading your way into your adventure in Scandinavian Europe

Netherlands

• My Dam Life – Three Years in Holland – by Sean Condon. Australian humorist chronicles his life in Amsterdam.
• Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl– by Anne Frank. A diary of a 13yr old girl who flees her home in Amsterdam with her family and goes into hiding during Nazi occupation of Holland.  For ages 10-13.
• Just One Year – by Gayle Forman. The follow up to Just One Day (set in Paris- see France above).  Set in Amsterdam, India and Mexico, this is the story told from Willem’s perspective.  For TEENs and YA.

Norway/Sweden/Denmark

• Out Stealing Horses – by Per Petterson. Set in the Norwegian countryside. A 67 yr old man looks back at a life changing event that occurred when he was coming of age during the 1940’s.
• Beatles – by Lars Saabye Christensen. Four Beatles fans growing up in Oslo during the first wave of Beatlemania.
• The Year of Living Danishly – Helen Russell. The author lives in Denmark for a year to try to uncover the formula for living in the world’s happiest country.
• 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window – by Jonas Jonasson. On his 100th birthday, Swedish Allan Karlsson breaks out of his old age home to live his last days in a life of adventure.
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series – by Steig Larsson. Set in Sweden this trilogy starring Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander will have you at the edge of your seat. This is the first book in the series.
• Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren. The beloved story of a spunky young girl and her hilarious escapades.  Not really set in Sweden but there are many references to Pippi when you visit the country so it’s worth being familiar with the character. For ages 8-12.
• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. The story of Danish Resistance smuggling the entire Jewish population of Denmark (almost 7,000 people) to Sweden told through the eyes of a 10yr old.  For ages 10-13.
• Let the Right One In – by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Set in a Stockholm suburb, 12 yr old Oskar is being bullied and his friend Eli helps him out. Oskar doesn’t know Eli is a vampire. This was also a film.  YA
• Tales from Moominvalley by Tove Jansson. The Moomins are beloved Swedish characters who have come to be associated with female empowerment.  You will see lots of Moomin references in Sweden. For ages 9-12.

Reading your way into your next trip to Estonia/Russia/Finland

• The Year of the Hare – by Arto Passilinna. A jaded journalist rescues an injured hare and decides to sell his belongings and travel around Finland with it peeking out of his backpack, A self help journey through Finland and Russia.
• Purge by Sofi Oksanen. A feminist and social commentator, Sofi writes about the hidden aspects of life in Soviet Estonia. An older woman takes in a young sex trafficking victim to her home in the Estonian countryside.
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. A classic novel set in 19th century St. Petersburg about a woman who falls into a scandalous affair.
• The Suitcase by Sergei Dovlatov. When Sergei emigrated to the US from St. Petersburg in ’79 he was allowed to bring one suitcase.  Each chapter in the book is dedicated to an item in the suitcase and the story to go with it.
• A Gentleman in Moscow – Amor Towles. Count Alexander Rostov, who has never worked a day in his life, is sentenced to a lifetime of house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. He watches decades of tumultuous Russian history unfold from the hotel doors.
• Catherine the Great – Portrait of a Woman – Robert K. Massie. The extraordinary story of a German Princess who transformed herself into empress of Russia. For TEENs

Reading your way into your adventure in Slavik Europe

Reading your way into your next adventure in Austria

• The Painted Kiss – by Elizabeth Hickey. Set in Vienna, this story reimagines the relationship between Gustav Klimt and Emilie Flöge, the woman who posed for his masterpiece The Kiss, and whose name he uttered with his dying breath.
• The Story of the Trapp Family Singers – by Maria Augusta Trapp. Baroness Maria Augusta Trapp tells the story of her romance with the baron, their escape from Nazi-occupied Austria, and their life in America. Everyone should know about this story before going to Austria! Appropriate for Kids & TEENs.

Reading your way into your next visit to Germany

• Cafe Berlin – by Harold Nebenzal. A portrayal of the feverish, decadent world of Berlin clubgoers during the months leading up to the Nazi rise to power. Pre-war Berlin cabarets and espionage!
• Sophie Scholl and the White Rose – by Jud Newborn and Annette Dumbach. The true story of 5 Munich university students who set up an underground resistance movement in WWII. If you are going to Munich, the White Rose group is great to know about. Also a movie. Appropriate for Teens.
• The Innocent: A Novel – by Ian McEwan. A psychological thriller set in Berlin during the Cold War. Based on a true story, he tells of a secret tunnel built in 1954 by British and the Americans to allow access to Russia’s communication system.
• SASS The Sound of Munich – by Suzanne Nelson. Part of a series set in various places called Students Across the Seven Seas (S.A.S.S.) This semester abroad story set in Munich. See also Ireland and France. For ages 12+.
• The Book Thief – by Markus Zusak. A foster girl living outside of Munich steals books and shares them during Nazi Germany.  Also a movie. For ages 12+.

Reading your way into your next adventure in Iceland

Have other book suggestions for reading your way into your next adventure (the Europe edition)? Let us know in the comments!

Disclosure: Note that some of the links above may be affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you make a purchase. I am recommending only products I would use and the income goes to growing my site.