Novels Set on Vacations

Novels Set on Vacations

This article relates to Rental House

Weike Wang's Rental House takes place during a couple's two vacations — one to Cape Cod and the other to the Catskills. Here are a few other novels in which vacations are equally illuminating about the characters' personalities and relationship dynamics.

Cape Cod:

Sandwich (2024) by Catherine Newman: Cape Cod is thick with memories for Rocky and her family, who have been vacationing there every summer for 20 years. Though grateful for the chance to spend time with her young adult children, she's also nostalgic for the trips made in their childhood. As part of the "sandwich generation," Rocky is torn between her concern for her aging parents and for her children. Pregnancy loss still haunts her, too. She tries to hide her anxieties and keep up a cheerful front while cooking and planning fun activities — all of this while dealing with menopause. Newman balances the humorous and the poignant with her bittersweet tone.

You might also try: Little Monsters by Adrienne Brodeur, The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller, Jennifer Weiner's Cape Cod trilogy

The Catskills:

Kaaterskill Falls (1998) by Allegra Goodman: Kaaterskill Falls is a real waterfall, but Kaaterskill is a fictional town in upstate New York. Like its real-life model, Tannersville, it has a strong Orthodox Jewish community and so is a common vacation destination for Jews from New York City. Goodman's debut novel follows several families who belong to the rigorous Kirshner sect. Elizabeth Shulman, a 34-year-old wife and mother of five, opens a kosher grocery store to cater to summer visitors, but finds that her ambitions are at odds with the strictures of her religion. Teenage rebellion and the question of rabbinic succession are among the other conflicts recounted in this unassuming National Book Award finalist.

You might also try: Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland or Susan Wiggs's Lakeshore Chronicles series

Elsewhere in New York:

Leave the World Behind (2020) by Rumaan Alam: From Callum McLaughlin's review for BookBrowse: "Amanda, Clay and their two teenage children, a typical middle-class, white American family, have rented a remote vacation home in Long Island to escape the stresses of daily life. In the dead of night, the spell is broken by a knock at the door. It heralds the arrival of Ruth and G.H., an older Black couple who claim to own the property. They explain that New York has been hit by a blackout and that something strange is going on in the city, so they've returned to Long Island seeking shelter. … As events take ever stranger turns, they will all be pushed to consider the fragile nature of safety and togetherness."

Further afield:

Nothing But Blue Sky (2021) by Kathleen MacMahon: David and his wife Mary Rose went to Aiguaclara, on Spain's Costa Brava, every summer for two decades. After Mary Rose's death in a plane crash, he decides to go back there on his own. Grief, regret, and fond memories commingle as David wonders whether he'll ever be happy again.

The Vacationers (2014) by Emma Straub: Franny and Jim hope two relaxing weeks in Mallorca will help their 35-year marriage heal from Jim's affair. Also partaking in this rather tense trip are Franny's gay best friend and his husband, who are soon to adopt a baby. Tennis, swimming, and gourmet meals on the one hand; secrets and resentment on the other.

You might also try: Destination Wedding by Diksha Basu, The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun, How Stella Got Her Groove Back by Terry McMillan

Filed under Reading Lists

This article relates to Rental House. It first ran in the November 20, 2024 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.