Great Escapes
Blume, Judy.
Summer Sisters (1998)
A
chronicle of two women's lifelong
friendship, from their summers together
on Martha's Vineyard to their more
complicated adult relationship.
Bourdain, Anthony.
Gone Bamboo (1997)
Renowned chef and author of
Kitchen
Confidential Bourdain brings us to the
beaches and restaurants of St. Martin,
where two retired assassins come
together with an informant in the
witness protection program against a mob
boss with a grudge.
Chopin, Kate.
The Awakening
(1899)
In
the New Orleans resort of Grande Isle, a
young wife and mother experiences her
first pangs of desire. This awakening
develops into a yearning for freedom
thwarted by the constraints of
turn-of-the-century society.
Christie, Agatha.
Evil Under the Sun
(1941)
When the alluring Arlena Marshall
is found strangled at an island health
resort, Hercule Poirot sets out to solve
the mystery.
Craig, Amanda.
Love in Idleness (2003)
Each member of a family vacationing at
Tuscany's Casa Luna discovers
significant differences in himself or
herself in this modern-day tale of love
and lies based on Shakespeares' A
Midsummer Night's Dream.
Garland, Alex.
The Beach (1997)
Three
rootless young western travelers search
for a rumored Eden in Southeast Asia.
They locate it, but find more than they
bargained for in the society of this
international paradise.
Highsmith, Patricia.
The Talented Mr.
Ripley (1955)
Tom Ripley is hired to
bring a spoiled American playboy back
from the Italian seaside to his father
in the states. But Ripley instead
admires and befriends Dickie Greenleaf.
Ripley's attention soon proves to have
sinister consequences.
McMillan, Terry.
How Stella Got Her
Groove Back (1996)
A successful forty-ish
woman meets and falls for a much younger
man on a Jamaican vacation. Can it work?
Mendelsohn, Jane.
I Was Amelia Earhart
(1996)
The author imagines that Earhart
and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were
stranded on a South Sea island after
their mysterious 1937 disappearance.
Patterson, James.
The Beach House (2002)
Law student Jack Mullen learns that his
brother has drowned off the East Hampton
coast, he suspects foul play. He sets
out to investigate in the seaside
playground of the rich and famous.
Robards, Karen.
Beachcomber (2003)
Christy takes the summer off from her
high-stress law practice and travels to
the Carolina coast, where she falls for
a handsome drifter. When she realized
that all the women in a string of area
murders resemble her, she fears she may
be next.
Shreve, Anita.
Fortune's Rocks (2002)
A
young girl's life is irreversibly
changed when she begins an affair with
an older doctor during a summer at the
New Hampshire seaside in the 1890s.
Steel, Danielle.
Sunset in St. Tropez
(2002)
A group of longtime friends
decides to spend a month together in the
south of France, but problems ensue.
One, a recent widower, arrives with an
unexpected date, one is discovered to be
having an affair, and the rented house
is a disaster. Will their friendship
survive the vacation?
St. Claire, Roxanne.
Tropical Getaway
(2003)
On learning that her brother
Marco is missing and presumed dead
following a shipwreck, Ava Santori heads
for the exotic island of St. Barts to
uncover the and to find out if his
employer, handsome ship owner Dane
Erikson, is somehow responsible for the
tragedy.
Von Arnim, Elizabeth.
Enchanted April
(1927)
Four diverse Englishwomen
vacation together at an Italian castle,
learning much about each other and
themselves.
Weller, Anthony.
The Garden of Peacocks
(1996)
Cuban sculptor and recluse Cristobal de la Torre
has ensconced himself on a remote island
in the Bahamas, along with his "Man
Friday".
There he works on a final masterpiece
dedicated to his estranged daughter
Esther. On the way to the island for a
reconciliation, Esther begins an affair
with an American photographer interested
in her mysterious family.
Compiled by B. Hinton
May, 2004
| 
