Books have long been celebrated for their ability to transport readers to other worlds. Although this is often associated with genre novels such as fantasy and science fiction, contemporary literature also opens doors to new places without a passport. Whether you’re preparing for international travel or just curious about a strange culture, books can comfortably immerse yourself elsewhere from the sofa.
The following must-read novels offer a wide variety of perspectives in countries in Ireland and Japan, Palestine and New Zealand. Some are translated into English, e.g. Kairos and butterwhile others focus on characters encountering new places for the first time – for example, Canadian exchange students explore Scotland The life cycle of ordinary octopus. Many of the books below revolve around deep personal stories of memorable locations: a house in a grid of countryside Irish, a high-pressure world of Los Angeles restaurants or a theater on the West Coast.
See also: Observer's Guide to the Best Memoirs and Biography of 2025 from Abba to Ono
All eight novels we chose are on display on this list’s central role, their inner lives are inseparable from the environment, growing shapes (sometimes irreversibly) where they live.
To visit Ireland, read Alternatives By Caoilinn Hughes
As the flattering sisters of four orphans came to adulthood, Wicklow set out to different parts of the world. Olwen heads to Galway, where she teaches geology to college students. Similarly, Nell became a professor of philosophy in Boston. Rhona travels to Dublin, where she teaches at Trinity College, specializing in politics, while Maeve goes to London, where she launches cooking videos online. The sisters are forced to reunite and travel through the countryside of Ireland to find their once stable older sister who disappeared from her previous life without any trace. From the perspective of all four sisters, this thoughtful, rich descriptive novel provides insight into sisterhood and takes on a journey across Ireland in guiding the reader’s journey.
To visit Japan, please read butter Written by Asako Yuzuki and translated by Polly Barton
butter The protagonist takes a train to the suburbs to visit her newlywed friend. Journalist Rika and her boyfriend both live to work, and Rika can’t stand the life of cooking for her husband centeredly, the path her friend Reiko chose. However, when Reiko hints that she tried to connect with a famous serial killer, her friend's family pursuit made Rika disturb a tough story, a famous serial killer (a delicious dish that attracted the victims), asking for a recipe. Suddenly, Rika is suspected of killer speaking. But their communication began to change Rika's life in ways she never thought of, forcing her to face her relationship with food, body and society. Despite the brink of murder, and while away from the thriller, the Japanese novel has taken over the book, bringing delicious culinary dreams into life and raising urgent questions about patriarchal views on women’s bodies.
To visit Germany, read Kairos Jenny Erpenbeck and Michael Hofmann (Translation)
Katherina locks onto the eyes of a married man older than her father on the bus and thus begins the romance that defines her youth. The relationship is narrated retrospectively by adult Katherina, who not only reflects the matter, but also the life in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Her naive perspective makes her an interesting narrator with insight into what Berlin looks like, especially when she first visited her grandmother on a tough trip, she went through West Germany. This must-read novel has attracted international attention after winning the International Booker Award in 2024.
To visit the United States, please read Yerba Buena By Nina Lacour
Nina Lacour has a gift that uses subtle images to draw beautiful evocative pictures, which clearly manifests the love story in her portrayal of Los Angeles, about two women who have the chance to meet in a restaurant. Sara designed a drink menu for the stylish new attraction Yerba Buena, while Emilie arranged flowers. Facing her stagnant life, Emilie enters her seventh year of undergraduate at the beginning of the book, while Sara is still looking for the feeling of her lost home when she was a teenager. Los Angeles and its many stratified communities are active on the page, and the two women work hard to make themselves adult.
Visit Palestine, please read Enter the ghost Isabella Hammad
Sonia returns to her homeland to visit her sister Haneen, far from her life at London Theatre. When Haneen chose to teach at a university near Tel Aviv, Sonia largely avoided returning to Palestine, between the feeling of breaking and the deep connection to the place. Through a friend of Haneen, Sonia finds herself entering a work village On the West Bank. Sonia is associated with the body and her legacy more passionately with the drama of challenges and violence in Arabic and face to face. The novel is lyrically beautiful and honest in the sense of honesty as it creates a portrait of Palestine and a dedicated theatre troupe bravely fighting a pile of hands.
To visit Scotland, read The life cycle of ordinary octopus Emma Knight
Pen arrived in Edinburgh from Canada and started her first semester of college, and was still mentally trapped at home in the middle of her parents' divorce. She firmly believes that she needs to discover family secrets and that Scotland has all the answers. This belief in the importance of this place comes from a family friend of her father’s college days, now a well-known writer who welcomed the pen into the lives of his family and the Scottish estate when she arrived in the country. From the perspective of two wide-eyed international students in Toronto, the Knight immerses readers in Edinburgh University life and the Scottish countryside, as Pen explores the property of long-lost family and friends.
To visit New Zealand, read Greta and Valdin Rebecca K Reilly
Greta and Valdin are from a closely linked Maori family in Auckland. Even if you move out of the house, the two siblings are together and become roommates. As a new adult in the city, they become roommates. When Valdin moved to South America, Valdin was nursing a broken heart while Greta was dealing with a single crush and a rocky road through academia, with probably no lights at the end of the tunnel. They fight against all of this while managing the chaos of their family, support their nephews through their own outings and struggle to meet the inherent challenges of their twenties. The book brings readers to an environment that is not often captured in literature while exploring eccentric families and identities.
Visit Jamaica and read If I survive you Jonathan Escoffery
Jonathan Escoffery If I survive you Very open to the readers' explanations. He tells the story of a Jamaican immigrant family in Florida through short stories that change perspectives. There is a father who thinks he must leave Jamaica to ensure the safety of his family, and his son, despite being born in the United States, feels out of place among his peers and is disillusioned with the American dream, leaving him wondering if Jamaica will provide a better life. We also gain insight from a cousin who helps fill the extended family tree. This is a multi-part novel that can be deconstructed into a linked collection based on reading. In any case, the book creates a powerful intergenerational portrait shaped by unique experiences shared by generations. Between Jamaica and Florida, Escoffery presents a detailed and memorable family of characters.
