My family did not take vacations when I was young. We went to a hotel in Connecticut once (from New York), but my father got sick and we went home. So I always had an idealized vision of the sorts of family vacations you see in movies, where people sit in glamorous locations and drink bottles of wine and share intimate thoughts. I wanted to tap into that fantasy in writing Merry and think about what happens when reality and fantasy collide.
I love when Agatha Christie writes about family vacations (which she did a fair amount) because she pushes everything to extremes—with the highest stakes possible.
Appointment with Death is my favorite of her family vacation mysteries because the plot twist is so satisfying and the mother so evil.
What Christie does, in an over-the-top sort of way, is show how claustrophobic family vacations can be. Grown children are forced to behave like a younger version of themselves, and they are stuck in a remote location. In this case, Petra, in Egypt. All those dormant grievances have a chance to flourish.
I don’t think there’s ever been an Agatha Christie opera, but there should be.
In this exclusive authorized edition from the Queen of Mystery, the unstoppable Hercule Poirot finds himself in the Middle East with only one day to solve a murder.
Among the towering red cliffs of Petra, like some monstrous swollen Buddha, sits the corpse of Mrs. Boynton. A tiny puncture mark on her wrist is the only sign of the fatal injection that killed her.
With only twenty-four hours available to solve the mystery, Hercule Poirot recalled a chance remark he'd overheard back in Jerusalem: “You see, don't you, that she's got to be killed?” Mrs. Boynton was, indeed, the most…
First of all, The Red House is set in the English countryside, which I love. And it brings together a group of family members with legitimate grievances.
Some of them involving caretaking of an elderly mother, and I feel like the issue of caretaking is always underrepresented in literature, and yet it’s such a huge issue and can change the trajectory of a person’s life.
This is quite different than Mark Haddon’s better-known book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, so you might just want to pretend someone else wrote it, or you’ll find the change in tone unsettling.
From the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time comes a novel about families and secrets
Two families. Seven days. One house.
Angela and her brother Richard have spent twenty years avoiding each other. Now, after the death of their mother, they bring their families together for a holiday in a rented house on the Welsh border. Four adults and four children. Seven days of shared meals, log fires, card games and wet walks.
But in the quiet and stillness of the valley, ghosts begin to rise up. The parents Richard thought he had. The parents…
A grumpy-sunshine, slow-burn, sweet-and-steamy romance set in wild and beautiful small-town Colorado. Lane Gravers is a wanderer, adventurer, yoga instructor, and social butterfly when she meets reserved, quiet, pensive Logan Hickory, a loner inventor with a painful past.
Dive into this small-town, steamy romance between two opposites who find love…
I’m predisposed to like anything by Emma Straub. She writes with an emotional honesty I find appealing.
This one is about an affluent New York family that goes on vacation to Mallorca. I was looking through the reviews and was surprised to read that a lot of people found the characters unsympathetic, but that’s what I like about the book.
I think a lot of the stress people feel about family vacations is because they feel like everyone and everything should be perfect. I just don’t think that’s how real families are. So bring on the unlikability. Tell me a true story.
'Funny, poignant and beautifully observed' - Jojo Moyes, bestselling author of Me Before You
Two weeks in a remote island villa with America's most dysfunctional family - what could possibly go wrong?
It was set to be the family vacation of a lifetime.
From Manhattan to Majorca, two weeks in a remote island villa, with the sort of relaxation, culture and cuisine that only Europe can offer. At least, that was Franny's plan. She wasn't counting on the extra baggage . . .
Warm, wry and glowing with life, The Vacationers is a glorious novel…
This is the first book that popped into my head when I thought of family vacations gone wrong.
True, it’s not so much a vacation as a winter job, but it takes place at a hotel, so I hope it can slide in. Partly, I love this because it’s about a writer dealing with a severe case of writer’s block. So I sympathize.
But mainly, I love the way King taps into all the complicated feelings people have about parenting, admittedly in an extreme way. But maybe it takes an extreme version of life to show you the truth.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Before Doctor Sleep, there was The Shining, a classic of modern American horror from the undisputed master, Stephen King.
Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote . . . and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around…
A witchy paranormal cozy mystery told through the eyes of a fiercely clever (and undeniably fabulous) feline familiar.
I’m Juno. Snow-white fur, sharp-witted, and currently stuck working magical animal control in the enchanted town of Crimson Cove. My witch, Zandra Crypt, and I only came here to find her missing…
My children loved this book when they were little, and so did I.
The poor Berenstain Bear family goes on what they think will be the best family vacation ever, but instead, one thing after another happens. At the end of the book, they look at photographs and remember it as the best family vacation ever.
This resonated with me because it’s the most disastrous family vacations that I remember most fondly. Once, I got a coupon to go to Niagara Falls, and only when we got there did I realize it was cheap because it was too cold to leave the hotel. I kept a copy of this Berenstain Bears book on my desk when I was writing Merry.
This classic Berenstain Bears story is a perfect way to teach children about making the best out of a bad situation!
Go on a vacation with the Bear family in this classic First Time Book (R) from Stan and Jan Berenstain. Papa, Mama, Brother, and Sister are heading to the Great Grizzly Mountains for a relaxing vacation. But a messy cabin, noisy animals, a swarm of mosquitos, and a rainstorm just might dampen all of their fun. Includes over 50 bonus stickers!
Merry Bingham used to love Christmas—until she started worrying all the time about family, money, and death. The only thing that continues to bring her joy is reading her heirloom edition of A Christmas Carol, autographed by Charles Dickens himself. Now, as she waits for the results of medical tests, Merry prepares to give her book to the next generation. Except none of her three children wants it.
Merry sells the book and uses the money to take her family to London. She will fill them with Christmas joy even if she has to cram it down their throats. But the harder Merry pushes, the worse things get. Oh, and she keeps seeing the ghost of Charles Dickens, and he’s not happy with her.
A fake date, romance, and a conniving co-worker you'd love to shut down. Fun summer reading!
Liza loves helping people and creating designer shoes that feel as good as they look. Financially overextended and recovering from a divorce, her last-ditch opportunity to pitch her firm for investment falls flat. Then…
“Rowdy” Randy Cox, a woman staring down the barrel of retirement, is a curmudgeonly blue-collar butch lesbian who has been single for twenty years and is trying to date again.
At the end of a long, exhausting shift, Randy finds her supervisor, Bryant, pinned and near death at the warehouse…
