List of Fiction Books by European Setting

This list is a list of fiction books set in European countries. I have not taken into account the nationality of the author, only the setting. I’ve looked around the group in order to make this list, but I’m sure I missed some books and made some mistakes. If you spot a mistake - like a non-fiction book in the list or a book listed under a country when it’s not set there? Please let me know!

Rules of the list:

*Main setting of the book must be in the country it is listed under

*Non-fiction books will not be allowed, unless there is no fiction book for a particular country. In that case, narrative non-fiction like autobiographies and travel stories are preferred.

*For difficult countries I will also accept fiction books that are only partly set there.

*Please only suggest books that you have read so you know for sure that the book is set there (I’ve got many books on my own list, especially for the more obscure countries, that might be set there, but until I read them I won’t add them to this list).

*Suggest a book by commenting on this thread. Please not title, author and country. Have a book for a country/region in Europe not on the list? Suggest away! But please do not ask me to put a country/region on the list if you do not have a book suggestion to go with it.

Albania:

Broken April by Ismail Kadare
The Three-Arched Bridge by Ismail Kadare
The General of the Dead Army by Ismael Kadare
The Successor by Ismail Kadare
The Siege by Ismail Kadare
The Country Where No One Ever Dies by Ornela Vorpsi

Andorra:

The Road to Andorra by Shirley Deane
Andorra by Peter Cameron

Armenia:

The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel
Skylark Farm by Antonia Arslan

Austria:

Homestead by Rosina Lippi
Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick by Peter Handke
The Third Man by Graham Greene
Vienna Secrets by Frank Tallis
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander
Wonderful, Wonderful Times by Elfriede Jelinek
The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek
Death in Vienna by Frank Tallis
De dag dat ze Jakob kwamen halen (Einer) by Norbert Gstrein
Brother of Sleep by Robert Schneider

Azerbaijan:

Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon
Ali and Nino by Kurban Said

Belarus:

Defiance by Nechama Tec
De werkplaats van de duivel (Chilly Land) by Jáchym Topol

Belgium:

The Sorrow of Belgium by Hugo Claus
The Heretic's Wife by Brenda Rickman Vantrease
Villette by Charlotte Brontë
Bruges-La-Morte by Georges Rodenbach
Mevrouw Verona daalt de heuvel af by Dimitri Verhulst
Zwarte tranen by Tom Lanoye

Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Day of the Assassins by Johnny O'Brien
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric
How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone by Saša Stanišic

Bulgaria:

The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
Under the Yoke by Ivan Vazov

Channel Islands:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Croatia:

The Heart of Danger by Gerald Seymour

Cyprus:

Small Wars by Sadie Jones
Gold of Kings by Davis Bunn
Bitter Lemons by Lawrence Durrell

Czech Republic:

The Trial by Franz Kafka
The Glass Room by Simon Mawer
Dissonance by Lisa Lenard-Cook
The Golem by Gustav Meyrink
No Saints or Angels by Ivan Klima

Denmark:

Beowulf by Caitlin Kiernan
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Estonia:

Purge by Sofi Oksanen
Watching the Dark by Peter Robinson

Faroe Islands:

Far Afield by Susanna Kaysen

Finland:

House of Orphans by Helen Dunmore
Seven Brothers by Aleksis Kivi
Waar we ooit liepen (Where Once We Walked) by Kjell Westö

France:

Chocolat by Joanne Harris
Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris
The Vintage Caper by Peter Mayle
The Doomsday Key by James Rollins
Devil May Care by Sebastian C. Faulks
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda
Alles waar ik spijt van heb (Quelques-uns des cent regrets) by Philippe Claudel

Georgia:

Red Station by Adrian Magson
De eindeloze zee (La mer noire) by Kéthévane Davrichewy

Germany:

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
Doctor Faustus by Marlowe
Stettin Station by David Downing
The Blindness of the Heart by Julia Franck
Broken Glass Park by Alina Bronsky
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi
The Amber Room by Steve Berry
The Weekend: A Novel by Bernhard Schlink

Gibraltar:

Uneasy Relations by Aaron Elkins

Greece:

Three Ways to Capsize a Boat by Chris Stewart
The Magus by John Fowles
The Island by Victoria Hislop
The Tomb of Zeus by Barbara Cleverly
Murder in Mykonos by Jeffrey Siger
Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
The Lost Throne by Chris Kuzneski
The Convent: A Novel by Panos Karnezis

Greenland:

Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg

Hungary:

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb
Valeria's Last Stand by Marc Fitten
Skylark by Dezso Kosztolanyi
The Magyar Venus by Lyn Hamilton
De nacht voor de scheiding (Válás Budán) by Sandor Marai

Iceland:

Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason
The Fish Can Sing by Halldór Laxness
The Tricking of Freya by Christina Sunley
Salka Valka by Halldór Laxness
The Worst Thing by Aaron Elkin

Ireland:

Dubliners by James Joyce
Dance of the Gods by Nora Roberts
Death at Crane's Court by Eilis Dillon
In the Woods by Tana French
The Dark Eye by Ingrid Black
Haunted Ground by Erin Hart
The Guards by Ken Bruen
A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle

Isle of Man:

Safe House by Chris Ewan

Italy:

First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough
Short Stories in Italian by Nick Roberts, editor
Venice is a Fish: A Sensual Guide by Tiziano Scarpa
Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
The Third Secret by Steve Berry
Shroud for the Archbishop by Peter Tremayne
Dressed for Death by Donna Leon
The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
XY by Sandro Veronesi

Jan Mayen Island:

Kosovo:

The Day of the Pelican by Katherine Paterson
The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo by Paula Huntley
Zwarte merel in een veld met pioenen by Borislav Cicovacki

Latvia:

The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell
Barnsteen by Guido Van Heulendonk

Lichtenstein:

Ludmilla by Paul Gallico

Lithuania:

Vilnius Poker by Ricardas Gavelis
De schaduw van de slang (Žalčio žvilgsnis) by Saulius T. Kondrotas

Luxembourg:

The Elf of Luxembourg by Tom Weston
Luxembourg and the Jenisch Connection by David Robinson
The Expats by Chris Pavone
Herkules Kasch by Roger Manderscheid

Macedonia:

The Internationals by Sarah May
The Gates of Hell by Paul Doherty

Malta:

The Information Officer by Mark Mills
The Brass Dolphin by Caroline Harvey
Treason's Harbour by Patrick O'Brian

Moldova:

Stella's Sisters by Philip Cameron

Monaco:

Monte Carlo by Stephen Sheppard
Good Morning, Irene by Carole Nelson Douglas
Monaco : drie typen door Marcellus Emants

Montenegro:

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
The Black Mountain by Rex Stout

The Netherlands:

Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge
Death and the Dutch Uncle by Patricia Moyes
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas
The Wheel on the School by Meindert Dejong
De schilder en het meisje by Margriet de Moor

Norway:

Unformed Landscape by Peter Stamm
Don't Look Back by Karin Fossum
The Water's Edge by Karin Fossum
The Shadow in the River by Frode Grytten
Berlin Poplars by Anne B. Ragde

Poland:

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Sonata for Miriam by Linda Olsson
A Treatise on Shelling Beans by Wieslaw Mysliwski

Portugal:

The Crime of Father Amaro by Jose Maria Eca de Queiros
Act of the Damned by António Lobo Antunes

Romania:

Coming from an Off-Key Time by Bogdan Suceava
Dracula by Bram Stoker

Russia:

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry
Volk's Game by Brent Ghelfi
The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine by Alina Bronsky
The Line by Olga Grushin

San Marino:

Serbia:

White Eagles Over Serbia by Lawrence Durrell
The Use of Man by Aleksandar Tisma
White Eagles Over Serbia by Lawrence Durrell

Slovakia:

Zoli by Colum McCann
Katarina by Kathryn Winter
Samko Tale's Cemetary Book by Daniela Kapitanova
Piper on the mountain by Ellis Peters
HhhH by Laurent Binet

Slovenia:

Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho
Of Whom the World Was Not Worthy by Marie Chapian

Spain:

Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Twelve Step Fandango by Chris Haslam
Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

Svalbard Island:

Sweden:

Blackwater by Kerstin Ekman
Simon and the Oaks by Marianne Fredriksson
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Benny and Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti
Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson

Switzerland:

Transparent Things by Vladimir Nabokov
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
Swiss Watching by Diccon Bewes
Het lot van de familie Meijer (Melnitz) by Charles Lewinsky

Turkey:

The Sultan’s Seal by Jenny White
The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
The Kiss Murder by Mehmet Murat Somer
The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas

UK: England:

Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
In a Dark House by Deborah Crombie
When The Ashes Burn by Phil Lovesey
They Found him Dead by Georgette Heyer
Mistress in the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Mr. Timothy by Louis Bayard
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
Atonement by Ian McEwan

UK: Northern Ireland:

Divorcing Jack by Colin Bateman
An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor
The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill

UK: Scotland:

The Unbelievers by Alastair Sim
Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen
Death of a Witch by M.C. Beaton
The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
Death of a Valentine by M C Beaton
One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
Report for Murder by Val McDermid
One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night by Christopher Brookmyre

UK: Shetland Islands

Raven Black by Ann Cleeves

UK: Wales:

Evans Above by Rhys Bowen
Storyteller by G.R. Grove
The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan
Aberystwyth Mon Amour by Malcolm Pryce
The Dark Philosophers by Gwyn Thomas
Blow on a Dead Man's Embers by Mari Strachan

Ukraine:

The Lady with the Dog by Anton Chekhov
Moonlight in Odessa by Janet Skeslien Charles
Hiding in the Spotlight by Greg Dawson
Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

Vatican City:

God’s Spy by Juan Gomez-Jurado
Cabal by Michael Dibdin
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
The Vatican Rip by Jonathan Gash

Thread is now open for suggestions and additions!

Thanks for taking the time to pull this together. It's a great resource!

A few suggestions from my TBRs:

Azerbaijan - Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon; Ali and Nino by Kurban Said

Croatia - The Heart of Danger by Gerald Seymour

Georgia - Red Station by Adrian Magson

Latvia - The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell (part of the book takes place in Sweden, but the majority of it takes place in Latvia)

Serbia - White Eagles Over Serbia by Lawrence Durrell

Slovakia - Katarina by Kathryn Winter

UK: Shetland Islands - Raven Black by Ann Cleeves

ETA Almost forgot this one: Bulgaria - Under the Yoke by Ivan Vazov

Thanks for the suggestions! (And for putting them in alfabetical order, makes updating the list so much easier.)

The list is now updated!

Here's a few more:

Germany: Broken Glass Park by Alina Bronsky
Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi

Iceland: The Tricking of Freya by Christina Sunley

UK: Northern Ireland: The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill

Added! Thanks!

Holland: The Wheel on the School by Meindert Dejong

Bosnia: The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric
Finland: House of Orphans by Helen Dunmore
Portugal: The Crime of Father Amaro by Jose Maria Eca de Queiros

What a nice idea, thanks. My suggestions

Belgium: Bruges-La-Morte by Georges Rodenbach
Wales: The Dark Philosophers by Gwyn Thomas
Spain: Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte
Czech: The Golem by Gustav Meyrink

All added! Thanks for the suggestions!

I just learned about a novel set in Luxembourg that's due to be released in March: The Expats by Chris Pavone.

Hmm, I'd rather wait to add it until it's out and people can actually confirm it's set in Luxembourg, since I can't find any information on it right now.

The Amazon info about The Expats is here: http://amzn.com/0307956350, including a book description.

The WorldCat record is here: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/765971782. It's been assigned the subject heading Americans--Luxembourg--Fiction.

Thanks for that. The early reviews seem to vary quite a lot, but from what I gathered most of the book is indeed set in Luxembourg, although all those parts appear to be flashbacks. (Go figure).

Added.

I think Luxembourg is of those countries for which it might be difficult to find a book with the action taking place only in that country. It's so small and travel between EU countries is so easy that I would guess that people who live there frequently spend time in other European countries.

True, although both The Elf of Luxembourg by Tom Weston and Luxembourg and the Jenisch Connection by David Robinson were set entirely in Luxembourg. Although The Elf of Luxembourg is a young adult book and Luxembourg and the Jenisch Connection was awful in my opinion - the only redeeming feature were the beautiful descriptive passages about Luxembourg.

Added a book for UK: Wales after reading a very favourable review about it.

I added:

Albania: The Three-Arched Bridge by Ismail Kadare
Norway: The Shadow in the River by Frode Grytten
Serbia: The Use of Man by Aleksandar Tisma.

These books have both setting and author nationality in common.

Added Good Morning, Irene by Carole Nelson Douglas for Monaco.

This is a very good idea! Here are a few more options that I've read - for this challenge or otherwise:

Albania: The general of the dead army by Ismael Kadare (again!)
Austria: Wonderful, wonderful times or The piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek
Finland: Seven brothers by Aleksis Kivi
Greece: Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
Greenland (not on your list, but a self-governing part of Denmark): Smilla's sense of snow by Peter Hoeg
Iceland: Salka Valka by Halldór Laxness (again!)
Hungary or Poland: Fateless by Imre Kertesz
Slovakia: Samko Tale's cemetary book by Daniela Kapitanova
Ukraine: Everything is illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

Thanks for all the suggestions! I've added everything to the list except for Fatelessness by Imre Kertesz, since it seems it's not really set in one country and both of those countries have more than a couple of suggestions already.

I've also added a couple of the authors on your list to my List of European Authors by Country of Birth, namely Imre Kertesz (Hungary), Halldor Laxness (Iceland), Peter Hoeg (Denmark), Aleksis Kivi (Finland) and Elfriede Jelinek (Austria).

For Armenia, I've added The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel

Added The Black Mountain by Rex Stout for Montenegro.

Added Far Afield by Susanna Kaysen for the Faroe Islands

Here's a few more..

Spain: Don Quixote by Cervantes
Vatican City: Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Greece: The Lost Throne by Chris Kuzneski
Austria: Death in Vienna by Frank Tallis
Germany: The Amber Room by Steve Berry
Sweden: Benny and Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti

Added! Thanks for the suggestions. Have also added two of the authors to my European Authors list.

Added Uneasy Relations by Aaron Elkins to Gibraltar

Added Treason's Harbour by Patrick O'Brian to Malta

I just discovered that one of my favourite mystery writers, Peter Robinson has recently published Watching the Dark which is set in Estonia. I've got it on my wishlist.

Also, Chris Ewan known for The Good Thief's Guide to... series has published Safe House set on the Isle of Man, where the author lives. It's also been added to my wishlist.

Thank you, I updated the list with both of those.

Added The Worst Thing by Aaron Elkin to Iceland

A Journey to the Centre of the Earth could be counted as Iceland (and/or Germany). The volcano they enter into is located there.

Thank you for the suggestion, but I prefer to add books that are set solely in one country - at least for countries where there are plenty of books for available, like Iceland and Germany.

Added The Vatican Rip by Jonathan Gash to Vatican City.

Added Piper on the mountain by Ellis Peters for Slovakia.

Suggesting the books I read so far for the list:
Albania: Het land waar je nooit sterft (The Country Where No One Ever Dies) by Ornela Vorpsi
Andorra: Andorra by Peter Cameron
Armenia: Het huis met de leeuweriken / Skylark Farm by Antonia Arslan
Austria: De dag dat ze Jakob kwamen halen (Einer) by Norbert Gstrein
Austria: Wie liefheeft slaapt niet / Schlafes Bruder by Robert Schneider
Belarus: De werkplaats van de duivel (Chilly Land) by Jáchym Topol
Belgium: Mevrouw Verona daalt de heuvel af by Dimitri Verhulst
Belgium: Zwarte tranen by Tom Lanoye
Bosnia: How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone by Saša Stanišic
Czech Republic: No Saints or Angels by Ivan Klima
Finland: Waar we ooit liepen / (Where Once We Walked) by Kjell Westö
France: Alles waar ik spijt van heb (Quelques-uns des cent regrets) by Philippe Claudel
Georgia: De eindeloze zee (La mer noire) by Kéthévane Davrichewy
Germany: Het eerste weekend (The Weekend) by Bernhard Schlink
Greece: The Convent: A Novel by Panos Karnezis
Hungary: De nacht voor de scheiding (Válás Budán) by Sandor Marai
Iceland: Salka Valka by Halldór Kiljan Laxness
Ireland: A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle
Italy: XY by Sandro Veronesi
Latvia: Barnsteen by Guido Van Heulendonk
Lithuania: De schaduw van de slang (Žalčio žvilgsnis) by Saulius T. Kondrotas
Luxembourg: Herkules Kasch by Roger Manderscheid
Monaco: Monaco : drie typen door Marcellus Emants
Netherlands: De schilder en het meisje by Margriet de Moor
Norway: Berlin Poplars by Anne B. Ragde.
Poland: Over het doppen van bonen (A Treatise on Shelling Beans) by Wieslaw Mysliwski
Portugal: Act of the Damned by António Lobo Antunes
Russia: The Line by Olga Grushin
Slovakia: HhhH by Laurent Binet
Sweden: Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson.
Switzerland: Het lot van de familie Meijer (Melnitz) by Charles Lewinsky
United Kingdom: Atonement by Ian McEwan

Thank you! They're added.