The modern novels that could inspire your next holiday.

We want our holidays to be magical, memorable and as far removed as possible from the routine of our daily lives.

So it’s no surprise that more than a quarter of us turn to fiction for destination inspiration; recent research states that 26% of us base our holiday choices on the settings of our favourite book. The publication and subsequent Hollywoodisation of Alex Garland’s The Beach, for example, is reported to have boosted Thailand’s popularity with tourists by 19%.

We’ve leafed through the new releases to bring you modern novels to send you packing.

The place: Anatolia, Turkey
The book: Bird Without Wings by Louis de Bernières

Out now in paperback, Bird Without Wings may do for the Turkish region of Anatolia what Louis de Bernières’ previous novel, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, did for the Greek island of Cephalonia by attracting tourists in their thousands.

The novel is set in the south west - dubbed the ‘Asian/European gateway’ – where, in the fictional account, love, peace and hope are shattered when the Muslim/Christian community are besieged by the outside world contending with the collapsing Ottoman Empire and the subsequent bitter struggle between the Greeks and Turks. In reality, culture vultures will find weeks’ worth of historical monuments to trawl, sun worshippers sprawling sandy bays lapped by turquoise waters. More on Bird Without Wings and Anatolia.

The Place: Iceland
The Book: The Killer’s Guide To Iceland by Zane Radcliffe

Ad man Radcliffe was inspired to set his third novel in Iceland after he visited Reykjavik to make a beer commercial. Intrigued by what lay beyond the cool as ice capital, he began to explore the country’s most remote reaches, the latter being ‘anywhere outside the capital’, to use the author’s words.

The lead character is a shady Brit trying to survive the land of fire and ice with three wilful females in tow. He’s also a glaciologist, a very deliberate choice on behalf of the author who wanted to celebrate Iceland’s volatile topography (pictured left). More on The Killer’s Guide and Iceland.

Read on for new fiction inspiring travel to Wales and Carcassonne.