A Curated Book List to Enhance Your Trip to Greece

I’m beginning to think Greece is just a mythical country that one can never actually visit in real life. Every time I’ve started making real travel plans, something causes them to completely unravel! That hasn’t stopped me, however, from armchair traveling to Greece though books! Thus I’ve come up with a curated book list to enhance your trip to Greece, or just whisk you off to Greece mentally right from your armchair. (And if you are lucky enough to have REAL LIFE travel plans to Greece, can I come with you?!) If I were to visit Greece, these 4 cities would be at the top of my itinerary because of books: Corfu, Crete, Santorini, and Athens.

*Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase a book through these links, I’ll make a few cents at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the blog!*

Corfu

My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell

Visiting Greece, specifically Corfu, has been at the top of my travel bucket list for over 20 years now because I read My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell with my Mother/Daughter Book Club when I was 17 (just so we’re clear, I was one of the daughters). I found the book so funny, and Corfu so idyllic sounding that the longing to visit the place it took place has stuck with me ever since.

I have since re-read the book a number of times because it’s just a delightfully amusing tale of a home full to bursting with humans and animals of all sorts. Gerald (or Gerry, as he’s known at age 10 in the first book of his Corfu Trilogy) moved from England to Corfu, Greece with his mother and siblings at the beginning of the 1900s. The book is composed of a compilation of highly amusing anecdotes from the family’s time in Corfu as seen through Gerry’s childhood eyes. Based on the stories he chose to include, Gerry seemingly spent most days indulging his budding interest in nature by roaming the countryside and observing all the animals he could find. Through his writing you feel like you’re right along with him, poking at tide pools, crouching in olive groves to observe bugs, or scheming to capture various animals to keep as pets. He often succeeded in bringing creatures home, although his triumphs nearly always resulted in absolute chaos. His mother, sister, two brothers, and two dogs were not quite as willing to share their home with the new turtle, or seagull, or magpie, or the matchbox full of scorpion babies!

Durrell couldn’t fit all his anecdotes in just one book. So My Family and Other Animals is the first book in his Corfu Trilogy. He continues the humorous anecdotes in Book 2: Birds, Beasts and Relatives, and book 3: The Garden of the Gods. And interestingly, Gerry’s obsession with nature and animal behavior was no passing childhood fancy. Many years later, Durrell became not only a naturalist, but the founder of Britain’s Jersey Zoo and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.

Throughout the trilogy, Durrell describes Corfu as an idyllic place where young children can run safely and freely through the countryside all day. Local peasants welcome the boy into their homes when he drops by. Even the convicted murderer who allegedly gets to take trips home from prison for good behavior that Gerry meets and befriends seemingly poses no threat. It may have been like that in the early 1900s. And I’m sure that Corfu has probably changed a lot since then, but I would like to visit to find out for myself.

Where I’d visit in Corfu with this book:

Gerry describes the wild life, olive groves, shimmering waters, and local people with such warmth and mirth that one can’t help wanting to visit Corfu and see all the places he described in his books. Here are the top locations I want to visit in Corfu:

• Perama (Strawberry Villa): The first house the Durrels lived in. It doesn’t look the same now, as it’s had some renovations done since the Durrels lived there, but now it’s a private holiday rental! And of course, pets are allowed!
• The White House: This was the home of Gerry’s brother Larry Durrell (also an author) and his wife, Nancy. Now it’s a restaurant with 3 vacation rental apartments.
• Daffodil Yellow Villa: The second house the Durrels lived in (now private)
• Mouse Island
• Any filming spots for The Durrells TV show

Looking for the Durrells by Melanie Hewitt

*Disclosure: This book was gifted to me by Harper Collins, but all opinions are my own. Because My Family and Other Animals is one of my favorite books, when I came across Looking for the Durrells on Twitter (in 2021), I reached out to Ms. Hewitt and she kindly arranged a gift copy for me from the publisher!

Looking for the Durrells is an emotional romance novel of grief and healing with Corfu as a backdrop to the plot. The main character in Looking for the Durrells carries copies of Durrell’s books in her day pack, which is exactly what I will do whenever I finally visit Corfu, Greece. Thus, there was no way I wouldn’t like this book. Our main character, Penny, nursing grief due to the death of her father and the break up of her engagement, decides to finally take that trip to Corfu she’d meant to do with her father because of their shared love of My Family and Other Animals. So Penny packs her well-worn copy of Durrell’s book and a small watercolor set, and lands in Greece solo.

Luckily she had booked accommodations at a hotel with an attached restaurant. Over the course of her month-long stay she makes friends with the hotel staff who often socialize in the restaurant. Through these friendships, and outings she takes with her new friends, she begins to heal. And in turn, helps her new friends begin healing and dealing with their own personal troubles. All the characters work their way back to happiness through camaraderie and the help of the ever-present, calming views and atmosphere of Corfu and the slow-paced style of Greek local life.

Interestingly, the author wrote the main character Penny as a slightly fictionalized version of herself. Melanie Hewitt’s father gave her a copy of Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals at age 13, thus starting her love affair with the Durrell family’s novels and Corfu. Since then she’s been to Corfu several times, along with her own watercolor supplies. One of her paintings is even framed on the wall of the Panorama Restaurant in St. Georges, Corfu! Hewitt’s character Penny also works as a book illustrator, which is what Hewitt originally went to college for before changing tracks. Having written about a place and activities so familiar to herself, I found Hewitt’s emotions genuinely come through in the reading of Looking for the Durrells.

Where I’d visit in Corfu with this book:

I liked that the book was written in such a way that I was able to open Google Maps and follow the character through Corfu. When she first drove into Corfu Town and had a coffee near the church and cricket field, I was able to find the locations on the map. I momentarily felt like the character as I stared down at the map on my phone. If I were to visit Corfu, I’d be able to follow in Penny’s footsteps, as well as visit all the locations related to the Durrells I listed above.

While reading, I was initially disappointed that the main character had little interaction with the locations related to the Durrells. Aside from eating at the White House restaurant, her actions are limited to walking by the outside of former Durrell homes. (I know that in reality this is all a visitor to Corfu can do, but I was hoping the author would take a little fictional license…) In the end, however, the story isn’t about seeing the locations related to the Durrell’s at all. That was the mission Penny gave herself to keep herself occupied rather than wallowing in grief. It was the act of going through with the mission that led her to connect with new people and learn to love and live again. It made me realize that half the time, my travels end up being less about the bookish plans I made, and more about what happened at the destination as I was taking my trip.

So what I mean to say is, I’d have a loose itinerary with plenty of free time to just wander or spontaneously make plans and let events play out as they will.

Crete

Into the Old Town & The Taverna at the Edge of Night by H. Y. Hanna

*Disclosure: This book was gifted to me by Books Forward, however all opinions are my own.

Compared to pleasant-sounding Corfu, Crete sounds positively wild, though I’m basing my opinion on H. Y. Hanna’s newest book, a psychological thriller, The Taverna at the Edge of Night. This book was exciting enough that I didn’t want to put it down, but not so scary that I’d avoid visiting Crete. In fact, now I’ve added hiking in the gorges of Crete to my travel bucket list, despite the fact that it was in the gorges that some rather uncanny scenes took place in the novel.

In this book, the main character arrives in a small, isolated fishing village in Crete and immediately finds herself embroiled in a serious mystery with life and death consequences and to make matters worse, she doesn’t know who she can trust. Outwardly, however, all the village residents are friendly and welcoming, thanks to the deeply rooted Greek tradition of welcoming strangers in (because in Greek myth, one never knew if the stranger at the door was in fact one of the Greek gods).

I don’t want to give too much away, but the mystery involves a s*x trafficking ring and an illegal alien refugee. Heavy topics for an otherwise fun vacation read. Though I appreciate that the author brought some of the more serious problems the country faces to the forefront to remind us that Greece isn’t simply a fun tourist playground. It’s always good to keep in mind that the communities we pass through for short visits have so much more going on under the surface. I think keeping this in mind, and learning about places before we visit can make us more mindful travelers. It might change where we choose to spend our money and how we interact with locals.

Where I’d visit in Crete based on the book:

*Get a free copy of the short story:*

The Taverna at the Edge of Night is H. Y. Hanna’s first departure from writing cozy mysteries, so I was a little wary going in. Luckily, Hanna has written a short story prequel, Into the Old Town which is in the same style as the novel and involves the same main character. She finds herself unfortunately the target in a mysterious psychological thriller upon landing in Crete. The story takes place the day before she arrives at the fishing village where the book picks up. (This character really does have the worst luck!) So if you’re unsure if a psychological thriller is your kind of book, I suggest reading the short story first. You may just find yourself through the end of the story and flipping to the first page of the novel before you know it. You can get a free copy of the short story by signing up for the author’s newsletter with this link OR the one above. This link, however, will not give you access to the Real Places guide or other freebies directly related to the book.

The Moon Spinners

The Moon Spinners is another thriller that takes place in Agios Georgios, which is just next door to the small village H. Y. Hanna set her The Taverna at the Edge of Night. That’s because Hanna read The Moon Spinners at age 14 and it inspired her not only to visit the location, but to write her own thriller set nearly in the same location years later. There is clearly something about this little coastline section of Crete that is wild and inspirational.

The Moon Spinners, published in 1962, follows a young British woman who arrived in Agios Georgios for vacation and finds herself accidentally thrown into the middle of a murder mystery. The book is unpredictable and full of surprising plot twists. Nobody seems to be who they appear to be, and you’re never quite sure who’s good and who’s bad.

The book has a rather exciting plot, which was unfortunately completely thrown out by the film adaptation! Although made into a film starring Hayley Mills, the movie took the character names from the book and that’s it. The movie plot is terrible if you’re familiar with the book.

For this book, I recommend listening to the audio version because you’ll be able to hear the story narrated as it should be by a female British accent and the narrator will pronounce the Greek place names correctly. Apparently Agios Georgios sounds something like “ayos yoyos.”

Where I’d visit in Crete based on the book:

This book involves a small family-owned Greek inn, a windmill, an old church, and the mountainous sea coast. These components either make up the perfect setting of a murder mystery, or a relaxing vacation. I would hope to experience places just like the ones in the book without falling into anyone else’s nefarious plans.

Santorini

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

While there have been a number of romance novels set in Santorini, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is the book that first introduced me to the romance of Santorini’s famous white-washed buildings with blue domes set on the side of a mountain. Based on this book, it’s my understanding there are young, handsome Greek men just waiting to fall in love with you. This YA book is actually about four girlfriends separated for summer who keep in touch by mailing one pair of blue jeans between them, each making their mark on them before passing them on. (Don’t think too much about how one pair of pants fits four different bodies.) It’s a sweet book about the strength of friendship. The girls help each other through family and boy troubles. Although the story of Lena, who visits family in Santorini is only a quarter of the whole, the backdrop of Santorini in her story is unforgettable.

Where I’d visit in Santorini with this book:

Most of Lena’s story is set in Oia and Ammoudi (which is at the base of the cliff below Oia). Although Oia is extremely crowded, especially at sunset, because it’s so iconic, I wouldn’t miss seeing it for the world.

My second stop on Santorini would be at the famous Atlantis Books bookshop, which relocated from Oia in 2024 to Firostefani.

I would of course have to stay in a traditional cave house, similar to the one Lena’s grandparents lived in. Though I’ve seen pictures of cave houses with pools and hot tubs, so if I could afford it, I’d upgrade for a little more romance. Can you just imagine watching the sunset from a private cavehouse hot tub?

Athens

After indulging in children’s literature, YA romance, and adult crime, I figure one should round out their Greek reading list with a few academic novels to better appreciate the history to be encountered in Athens. (And because there’s a new 2026 Odyssey adaptation releasing in July with an all-star cast!)

So if you’re inclined to get academic with me, here’s a few books I’ve been unable to part with since taking a Greek & Roman History class in college:

And a book for younger audiences:

• The Traveler’s Guide to Ancient Greece by Fiona MacDonald & Mike Foster (Amazon)

Where I’d visit in Athens:

I have long wanted to visit the Acropolis, however when a teacher I had in 7th grade told us that the Parthanon is covered in scaffolding and would be for our entire lifetime, my interest in seeing the site waned. That is until I read in 2025 that the scaffolding around the Parthenon has finally come down after several decades! I want to walk through the temple ruins, and where the once bustling Agora stood.

Tell me in the comments: Have you been lucky enough to visit any of these places in person? Which genre of books will you be diving into first? Have you read any of these already?