• Novels Set In Paris - Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
  • Novels Set In Paris - Honeymoon by Patrick Modiano, translated by Barbara Wright
  • Novels Set In Paris - A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
  • Novels Set In Paris - Perfume by Patrick Suskind
  • Novels Set In Paris - The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
  • Novels Set In Paris - The Belly of Paris by Emile Zola, translated by Mark Kurlansky

Novels Set In Paris

If you’re planning a trip to the City of Lights—or in the mood for a bit of armchair travel—then you might like to get yourself in the mood by picking up a novel set in Paris. From the Francophone masterpieces of Victor Hugo to more modern classics by Hemingway and Mantel, you’re sure to find a book to suit your tastes among our expert recommendations.

  • The Best Novels of 2024: The Booker Prize Shortlist - Orbital by Samantha Harvey
  • The Best Novels of 2024: The Booker Prize Shortlist - Held by Anne Michaels
  • The Best Novels of 2024: The Booker Prize Shortlist - Creation Lake: A Novel by Rachel Kushner
  • The Best Novels of 2024: The Booker Prize Shortlist - James: A Novel by Percival Everett
  • The Best Novels of 2024: The Booker Prize Shortlist - The Safekeep: A Novel by Yael van der Wouden
  • The Best Novels of 2024: The Booker Prize Shortlist - Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

The Best Novels of 2024: The Booker Prize Shortlist, recommended by Nitin Sawhney

Every year, the £50,000 Booker Prize is awarded to a work of fiction newly published in English. We spoke to the composer Nitin Sawhney, one of this year’s judges, about their search for a shortlist, and why these six books—including the winning title, Samantha Harvey’s space station novel Orbital—are the best novels of 2024.

  • Magical Realism Books - One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, translated by Gregory Rabassa
  • Magical Realism Books - The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
  • Magical Realism Books - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
  • Magical Realism Books - Beloved by Toni Morrison
  • Magical Realism Books - Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
  • Magical Realism Books - Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

Magical Realism Books, recommended by Five Books interviewees

If you enjoy some fantastical elements in your literature—but you aren’t quite ready for full-on swords and sorcery—then perhaps magical realism books are for you. As a genre, magical realism is often associated with South America, thanks in large part to the ‘father of magical realism’ Gabriel García Márquez and mega-bestselling books by Isabel Allende, but examples can be found from all over the world. We’ve put a list of must-read titles.