If you’re missing Greece as much as I am at the moment why not spend some time reading a book set in Greece. There are some lovely ones out there for you to choose from.

The Island by Victoria Hislop

On the brink of a life-changing decision, Alexis Fielding longs to find out about her mother’s past. But Sofia has never spoken of it. All she admits to is growing up in a small Cretan village before moving to London. When Alexis decides to visit Crete, however, Sofia gives her daughter a letter to take to an old friend, and promises that through her she will learn more.

Arriving in Plaka, Alexis is astonished to see that it lies a stone’s throw from the tiny, deserted island of Spinalonga – Greece’s former leper colony. Then she finds Fotini, and at last hears the story that Sofia has buried all her life: the tale of her great-grandmother Eleni and her daughters and a family rent by tragedy, war and passion. She discovers how intimately she is connected with the island, and how secrecy holds them all in its powerful grip…

‘Adding depth and colour to the story is the description of Cretan life… in particular, the vividly detailed account of life on Spinalonga… It is one of the achievements of this thoughtful novel that it presents the lives of the island’s inhabitants with such empathy. The result is a fascinating work that combines a moving love story witha plea for more understanding about this most cruel of diseases.’ – The Times 

One August Night by Victoria Hislop

Beloved author Victoria Hislop returns to Crete in this long-anticipated sequel to her multi-million-copy Number One bestseller, The Island.

25th August 1957. The island of Spinalonga closes its leper colony. And a moment of violence has devastating consequences.

When time stops dead for Maria Petrakis and her sister, Anna, two families splinter apart and, for the people of Plaka, the closure of Spinalonga is forever coloured with tragedy.

In the aftermath, the question of how to resume life looms large. Stigma and scandal need to be confronted and somehow, for those impacted, a future built from the ruins of the past.

Number one bestselling author Victoria Hislop returns to the world and characters she created in The Island – the award-winning novel that remains one of the biggest selling reading group novels of the century. It is finally time to be reunited with Anna, Maria, Manolis and Andreas in the weeks leading up to the evacuation of the island… and beyond.

The Olive Tree by Lucinda Riley

A magical house. A momentous summer.

It has been twenty-four years since a young Helena spent a magical holiday in Cyprus, where she fell in love for the first time. When the now crumbling house, ‘Pandora’, is left to her by her godfather, she returns to spend the summer there with her family.

Yet, as soon as Helena arrives at Pandora, she knows that its idyllic beauty masks a web of secrets that she has kept from William, her husband, and Alex, her son. At the difficult age of thirteen, Alex is torn between protecting his beloved mother, and growing up. And equally, desperate to learn the truth about his real father . . .

When, by chance, Helena meets her childhood sweetheart, a chain of events is set in motion that threatens to make her past and present collide. Both Helena and Alex know that life will never be the same, once Pandora’s secrets have been revealed . . .

The Greek Escape by Karen Swan 

Before every new beginning, there must be an ending . . .

Running from heartbreak, Chloe Marston leaves her old life in London for a fresh start in New York. Working at a luxury concierge company, she makes other people’s lives run perfectly, even if her own has ground to a halt. But a terrible accident forces her to step into a new role, up close and personal with the company’s most esteemed and powerful clients. Charismatic Joe Lincoln is one of them and his every wish is her command, so when he asks her to find him a secluded holiday home in the Greek Islands, she sets about sourcing the perfect retreat.

But when Tom, her ex, unexpectedly shows up in Manhattan and the stability of her new life is thrown off-balance again, she jumps at the chance to help Joe inspect the holiday house; escaping to Greece will give her the time and space to decide where her future truly lies. Tom is the man she has loved for so long but he has hurt her before – can she give him another chance? And as she draws closer to Joe, does she even want to? As magnetic as he is mysterious, there’s an undeniable chemistry between them that she can’t resist.

But whatever her heart is telling her, she’s in over her head – another client’s wife has mysteriously disappeared and serious allegations about Joe threaten more than just her happiness. Who can she trust? And will Chloe uncover the truth in time?

One Summer in Santorini by Sandy Barker

‘An ideal holiday read that ticks all the boxes. I thoroughly enjoyed it!’ Julie Houston, best selling author of A Village Affair.

There was something in the air that night. . .

Sarah has had enough of men. It’s time to rekindle her first true love – travel – so she books a sailing trip around the Greek islands with a group of strangers.

The very last thing Sarah wants is to meet someone new, but then a gorgeous American man boards her yacht… And when she also encounters a handsome silver fox who promises her the world, she realises that trouble really does come in twos.
 
Will Sarah dive into a holiday fling or stick to her plan to steer clear of men, continue her love affair with feta and find her own way after all?

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres

‘A true diamond of a novel, glinting with comedy and tragedy’ Daily Mail

It is 1941 and Captain Antonio Corelli, a young Italian officer, is posted to the Greek island of Cephallonia as part of the occupying forces. At first he is ostracised by the locals but over time he proves himself to be civilised, humorous – and a consummate musician.

When Pelagia, the local doctor’s daughter, finds her letters to her fiancé go unanswered, Antonio and Pelagia draw close and the working of the eternal triangle seems inevitable. But can this fragile love survive as a war of bestial savagery gets closer and the lines are drawn between invader and defender?

‘Louis de Bernières is in the direct line that runs through Dickens and Evelyn Waugh…he has only to look into his world, one senses, for it to rush into reality, colours and touch and taste’ Evening Standard

The Beachside Guest House by Vanessa Greene

When Rosa and Bee get together in the run-up to Bee’s wedding, they reminisce about the holiday they took together as teenagers to the beautiful Greek island of Paros. They remember the sandy coves, the guest house in the converted windmill where they stayed with their friend Iona, and the gorgeous local men. As memories of that long-forgotten holiday resurface, they are forced to confront the turns their lives have taken – and the guilt they both feel about letting Iona slip away from them.

When they learn that the windmill guest house is going bust they form a plan: why not go back to the island and take it over themselves? And so begins a life-changing journey – because it turns out that opening a guest house and reliving their teenage dreams isn’t that easy . . .

Full of romance and friendship, love and life, laughter and tears, The Beachside Guest House is an uplifting novel about the magic of starting over with friends by your side.

Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy

‘The perfect summer read’ Mail on Sunday

‘The landscape is evocatively Greek, the characters so real you feel you know them. Warm, thoughtful, vintage Maeve Binchy’ Choice Magazine

‘Wonderful’ Irish Times

Maeve Binchy at her very best – the superb novel of one summer, and four people whose lives are irrevocably changed.

Four strangers, with nothing in common but a need to escape, meet in a Greek taverna high above the small village of Aghia Anna. From Ireland, America, Germany and England they have each left behind their homes and their old lives, when a shocking tragedy throws them unexpectedly together.

Nights of Rain and Stars is the story of one summer and four people, each with a life in turmoil – and Vonni, the Irish exile who would very much like to help them, but has demons of her own to battle . . .

The Forgotten Song by Richard Clark

When Phoebe’s world falls apart, can a visit to the island of her father’s birth hold the key to her finding happiness again?

Praise for Richard Clark’s Books
‘An entirely captivating tale from cover to cover.’ Patricia Wilson
‘Clark is particularly good on the colours, flavours and scents of Greece. He has got under the skin of the place in a way few outsiders have been able to.’ Mark Hudson, winner of Somerset Maugham Award, Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, Samuel Johnson Prize

The Girl Under the Olive Tree by Leah Flemming

May 1941 and the island of Crete is invaded by paratroopers from the air. After a lengthy fight, thousands of British and Commonwealth soldiers are forced to take to the hills or become escaping PoWs, sheltered by the Cretan villagers.

Sixty years later, Lois West and her young son, Alex, invite feisty Great Aunt Pen to a special eighty-fifth birthday celebration on Crete, knowing she has not been back there since the war.

Penelope George – formerly Giorgidiou – is reluctant to go but is persuaded by the fact it is the 60th anniversary of the Battle. It is time for her to return and make the journey she never thought she’d dare to. On the outward voyage from Athens, she relives her experiences in the city from her early years as a trainee nurse to those last dark days stranded on the island, the last female foreigner.

When word spreads of her visit, and old Cretan friends and family come to greet her, Lois and Alex are caught up in her epic pilgrimage and the journey which leads her to a reunion with the friend she thought she had lost forever – and the truth behind a secret buried deep in the past…

Greek Island Escape by Patrica Wilson

On the beautiful beaches of Crete, an old woman is handing out scraps of paper. Sofia, eighty-five years old, unable to speak, is desperate to find a daughter she has never known. After a tragic childhood in Athens and a soaring career as a singer, the brutal treatment of the man she loved by a tyrannical regime forced her to give up her daughter mere days after her birth. Now she longs to be reunited with her child before it’s too late.

Meanwhile in London, Zoe is searching too. In the months since the disappearance of her teenage daughter, Zoe’s life has crumbled apart. Her husband has left her, her son feels forgotten, and every day is a struggle. But Zoe is desperate to track her daughter down, even if she doesn’t want to be found . . .

The Island of Secrets by Patricia Wilson

‘The story started at dawn on the fourteenth of September, 1943 . . .’

All her life, London-born Angelika has been intrigued by her mother’s secret past. Now planning her wedding, she feels she must visit the remote Crete village her mother grew up in.

Angie’s estranged elderly grandmother, Maria, is dying. She welcomes Angie with open arms – it’s time to unburden herself, and tell the story she’ll otherwise take to her grave.

It’s the story of the Nazi occupation of Crete during the Second World War, of horror, of courage and of the lengths to which a mother will go to protect her children. And it’s the story of bitter secrets that broke a family apart, and of three enchanting women who come together to heal wounds that have damaged two generations.

Why not PIN this post 15 Books set in Greece

One Summer in Crete by Nadia Marks

On the run from heartbreak, she might just end up finding happiness…

‘If you don’t think you’re about to get to Crete this is the next best thing … we’ve never needed books of this kind more’ Vanessa Feltz

Calli’s world has fallen apart – her relationship is suddenly over and her chances of starting a family are gone. So when she’s sent to write a magazine article about the Greek island of Ikaria, it seems the perfect escape.

Travelling to Crete, where her family is from, Calli soon realises there is more to discover than paradise beaches and friendly locals. When her aunt Froso begins to share the story of her own teenage heartache, will the love, betrayal and revenge she reveals change Calli’s life forever?

The Threshing Circle by Neil Grimmett

On the Greek island of Crete, traditions run deep and there are often secrets that are best left buried. Weaving myth and magic, history and adventure, The Threshing Circle is a powerful exploration of honour, betrayal and revenge.

Visitors Eleni and Patrick seek to uncover the story of a beautiful English woman who was executed on the island during the 1940s Nazi occupation. Their questions begin to unpick a web of forbidden love, betrayal and greed, murder and vendettas. Then they vanish.

A feisty Scottish woman and an irascible, Zorba-like Greek form a reluctant and unlikely alliance in a race to find them. The journey leads them to remote villages abandoned after decades of vendetta, hidden rituals and characters good and evil. Very soon though, the hunters become the hunted, as the murderous family behind the original crime seek to remove all threats to their honour and position of power.

My Map of You by Isabelle Broom

Allow yourself to be transported to the stunning Greek island of Zakynthos in this heart-warming and poignant novel

‘A beautiful story of heartbreak and forgiveness’ Giovanna Fletcher

With its perfect blue skies, white sandy beaches and crystal clear waters, Zakynthos should be a dream.

But for Holly it feels more like a nightmare.

Arriving on the island to clear out a house she’s just inherited, Holly has no idea what to expect. And she’s certainly not prepared for the family secrets she uncovers inside.

With the help of Aidan, her handsome neighbour, Holly sets out to explore the island, hoping to piece together her own lost story. Yet all too soon real life, including the boyfriend she left behind, threatens to catch up with her.

Holly thinks she’s following the secrets of the past . . .

But might it turn out to be a map to her future?

Why not PIN this post 15 Books set in Greece