--- description: Books to take you places near and far title: 6 Beach Reads to Transport You This Summer image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50c3e2130b394301/698851f6e53aba23e34dde88/108355920-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Living](/tag/time-section-living/) ## Living Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 6 Beach Reads to Transport You This Summer by [Thessaly La Force / Travel + Leisure](/author/travel-leisure/) ## Thessaly La Force / Travel + Leisure Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 22, 2015 3:00 PM CUT  Book on jetty by sea and mountains Book on jetty by sea and mountainsGetty Images by [Thessaly La Force / Travel + Leisure](/author/travel-leisure/) ## Thessaly La Force / Travel + Leisure Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 22, 2015 3:00 PM CUT Every traveler fantasizes about starting over in a foreign land—what happens when you actually go for it? That question is the starting point of [_The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty_](http://www.amazon.com/The-Divers-Clothes-Lie-Empty/dp/0062110918 "undefined")(Ecco), in which Vendela Vida tells the story of a woman who travels to Morocco and reinvents herself. Peter Nichols’s [_The Rocks_](http://www.amazon.com/The-Rocks-Novel-Peter-Nichols/dp/1594633312 "undefined") (Riverhead) takes place in a glamorous Majorcan resort, and is both a riveting mystery and a decades-long love story. Set in Manila, Boston, and Bahrain, [_In the Country_](http://www.amazon.com/In-Country-Stories-Mia-Alvar/dp/0385352816 "undefined") (Knopf), the debut story collection from Mia Alvar, dives into the way race, class, and borders can change us, or make us want to change ourselves. Of course, home—whether going to it or leaving it—can be just as dramatic. Eleni N. Gage, in her spellbinding [_The Ladies of Managua_](http://www.amazon.com/Ladies-Managua-Eleni-N-Gage/dp/1250058643/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432053502&sr=1-1&keywords=the+ladies+of+managua "undefined") (St. Martin’s Press), looks at three generations of Nicaraguan women, reunited in their homeland, while Naomi Jackson’s lyrical [_The Star Side of Bird Hill_](http://www.amazon.com/Star-Side-Bird-Hill-Novel/dp/1594205957/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432053515&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Star+Side+of+Bird+Hill "undefined") (Penguin Press) is about two sisters forced to leave their mother in Brooklyn to live with their grandmother in Barbados. [_The Unfortunates_](http://www.amazon.com/Unfortunates-Novel-Sophie-McManus/dp/0374114501/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432053532&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Unfortunates "undefined") (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), by Sophie McManus, conjures blue- blooded New York with its tale of the Somner family’s struggles to hold on to a waning era of opulence. _This_ [_article_](http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/six-beach-reads-to-transport-you-this-summer?xid=PS%5Ftime "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_Travel + Leisure_](http://www.travelandleisure.com/ "undefined")_._ _More from Travel + Leisure:_ * [Supermodel Lindsay Ellingson Shares Her Travel Beauty Secrets](http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/lindsay-ellingson-wander-beauty?xid=PS%5Ftime "undefined") * [Hotel Pets Around the World](http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/hotel-pets?xid=PS%5Ftime "undefined") * [The Coolest Swimming Holes in America](http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/americas-best-swimming-holes?xid=PS%5Ftime "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3898950/travel-summer-reading-list/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3898950/travel-summer-reading-list/"},"headline":"6 Beach Reads to Transport You This Summer","datePublished":"2015-06-22T15:00:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:57:04.106Z","description":"Books to take you places near and far","url":"https://time.com/3898950/travel-summer-reading-list/","keywords":["Living","Books","Travel"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50c3e2130b394301/698851f6e53aba23e34dde88/108355920-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Thessaly La Force / Travel + Leisure"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50c3e2130b394301/698851f6e53aba23e34dde88/108355920-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"book-jetty-lake","caption":"book-jetty-lake","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3898950/travel-summer-reading-list/","name":"6 Beach Reads to Transport You This Summer"}}]}] ```