Novels on Vacation

The Vacationers by Emma Straub has been listed on several Best of Summer Reading lists this season. It is a funny, touching and, at times, painfully honest story of the Post family’s vacation and the truths and secrets that are exposed when they are crammed together in a rental house for two weeks in Mallorca. Each member of the family, which includes a couple who are close friends of the Posts, is facing adversity or tough decisions when they land in the warm Spanish paradise. The close quarters and language barrier forces the group to confront each other and their own inner demons while basking in the sun and feasting on Spanish delicacies. This is a humorous and character driven novel that will appeal to fans of Cathleen Schine.

While you’re waiting to get The Vacationers, you might try one of these five novels that also feature families on vacation:

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan - Three generations of women converge on the family beach house in this wickedly funny, emotionally resonant story of love and dysfunction.

The Red House by Mark Haddon - Richard, a wealthy doctor, invites his estranged sister Angela and her family to join his for a week at a vacation home in the English countryside, which results in a symphony of long-held grudges, fading dreams, and rising hopes.

Shorecliff by Ursula DeYoung - Spending the summer of 1928 in a big house on the Maine coast with his 10 older cousins and a gaggle of aunts and uncles seems like a dream come true to lonely 13-year-old Richard. But as he wanders through the bustling house, Richard witnesses scenes and conversations not meant for him and watches as the family he adores disintegrates into a tangle of lust, jealousy, and betrayal.

Swimming Home by Deborah Levy - A mysterious woman who suffers from mental illness suddenly appears at a vacation villa where two families are staying and her interactions with them reveal secret details about their past and tensions within their relationships with each other.

Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann - Nick and her cousin, Helena, grow up sharing sultry summer heat, sun-bleached boat docks, and midnight gin parties on Martha's Vineyard in a glorious old family estate known as Tiger House.  Years later, at the brink of the sixties, they have returned to Tiger House with Ed and Daisy, their respective children. While wandering on the island, Ed and Daisy discover the victim of a brutal murder. Soon everything starts to unravel as secrets come to light, and nothing about their lives will ever be the same.