In Flight
![BOAC Stewardesses BOAC Stewardesses](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/52603753.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
Jet Set: The People, the Planes, the Glamour, and the Romance in Aviation’s Glory Years
William Stadiem
Remember when commercial flight was sexy? No, you don’t. But Stadiem does, and he’s got the cocktails, “skycoons” and sexy stews to prove it.
The Arctic
![482215347 Arctic](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/arctic.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
Hampton Sides
The true story of the U.S.S. Jeanette, which set out for the North Pole in 1879. The voyage descended into disaster, but the crew fought on with a heroic determination that recalls Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken (8/5).
Majorca, Spain
![185178472 Majorca, Spain](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/majorca-spain.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
Emma Straub
The Post family is in heaven—or at any rate Majorca—-but they’ve brought hell with them in the form of secrets and lies and insecurities of all kinds. Straub observes it all with wisdom, good humor and no mercy.
The Middle East
![467543001 Middle East](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/the-middle-east.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
Richard House
A colossal (1,024 pages) four-part novel of Pynchonesque ambition that starts with graft among military contractors in Iraq and follows the tendrils of corruption outward across the globe (8/5).
Provence, France
![455477975 Provence, France](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/provence-france.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
Ellen Sussman
Specifically in Cassis, where Olivia and Brody will tie the knot amid the splendors of the Côte d’Azur and all the tensions and drama that weddings inspire (7/15).
U.S. Virgin Islands
![465782695 U.S. Virgin Islands](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/u-s.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
Tiphanie Yanique
A sprawling, century-spanning story of love, family and magic that follows the changing fortunes of a ruined family and those of their troubled home, the U.S. Virgin Islands (7/10).
New Guinea
![159087841 New Guinea](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/new-guinea.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
Lily King
A love triangle with three scientists in the jungles of New Guinea, King’s novel is loosely based on the life of Margaret Mead and rendered in suitably lush, steamy prose.
China
![475511301 Xinjiang province, China](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/475511301.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
David Eimer
China is a vast place, with millions of people from dozens of ethnic minorities living far from Beijing, in regions where Westerners rarely go. Eimer visited the fringes and tells us what he saw there (7/15).
Japan
![453956117 Japan](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/japan.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
Haruki Murakami
At 36, a Japanese train engineer seeks out his four best friends from high school to discover why they all unceremoniously dropped him (8/12).
Sweden
![487454227 Rural Sweden](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/rural-sweden.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
Tom Rob Smith
Daniel’s parents are peacefully retired in rural Sweden. Or are they? Suddenly Dad says Mom is psychotic and has her committed. Mom denies it and says Dad is lying. It’s up to Daniel to dig up the truth.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Breaking Down the 2024 Election Calendar
- Heman Bekele Is TIME’s 2024 Kid of the Year
- The Reintroduction of Kamala Harris
- What a $129 Frying Pan Says About America’s Eating Habits
- A Battle Over Fertility Law in China
- The 1 Heart-Health Habit You Should Start When You’re Young
- Cuddling Might Help You Get Better Sleep
- The 50 Best Romance Novels to Read Right Now
Contact us at letters@time.com