If you dream of walking through Paris, New York or pre-war Wroclaw - nothing simpler! All you have to do is reach your hand onto a shelf - a bookstore or library and pull out one of the books whose authors take us to another reality. However, these are not guidebooks, but novels. In addition to the fact that the action takes place in a particular city, it is also one of the characters in the book.
1. "Streets of dark stores" by Patrick Modiano
One of the main characters in the books of Patrick Modiano, winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in literature, is Paris. This can be seen, for example, in the small novel "Streets of Dark Shops" or in "That You Don't Get Lost in the Quarter." Following the various characters, we can very easily figure out exactly where we are. The city is equally entangled with the characters in the events taking place. It is their companion, an important factor influencing the development of events. Without it, everything might have turned out differently. If you want to visit the French capital this weekend - there is no better way. We'll see you at the Hotel Castille on rue Cambon!
© citybestviews
2. "Wicked" by Leopold Tyrmand
Much has been and is being written about Warsaw. Love for this city is expressed in descriptions of its streets, squares, parks and plazas. Perhaps one of the greatest Warsaw "urban bibles" is Leopold Tyrmand's "Wicked." Those who know the Polish capital well can easily travel in the footsteps of the novel's characters. Together with them, we will walk through the Three Crosses Square, find ourselves on Maria Konopnicka Street, Chmielna Street and in Ujazdowski Park, among others.
In Warsaw, walks are organized in the footsteps of "Wicked", but also "The Doll" by Boleslaw Prus. Soon it will probably be even more walks in the footsteps of the characters of "Blind from the Light" by Jakub Żulczyk.
© monika.mar
3. "Good night, Jerzi" by Janusz Glowacki
We are invited to New York by Janusz Glowacki in his novel "Good Night, Dzherzi," which he dedicated to the controversial writer Jerzy Kosinski. Following the narrator step by step, we will find ourselves on the corner of Ninety-sixth Street at Central Park waiting for a bus, in a small apartment in Manhattan, but also in a spacious apartment on Houston Street. We will visit the sex clubs that Jerzy Kosinski also visited and the offices of film producers on Broadway. In this novel, the city becomes all the more meaningful, as for someone born in the 1930s in Lodz, New York was an unreachable city.
© melliekr
4. "A grain of truth" by Zygmunt Miłoszewski
We follow prosecutor Teodor Szacki, the protagonist of Zygmunt Miłoszewski's crime trilogy, to Sandomierz. Although we will be accompanied all the time by his sour humor, discontent and gruffness, prosecutor Szacki will efficiently guide us through the streets of the city. In "A Grain of Truth" we will visit, among other things, the old synagogue at 4 Żydowska Street, which today houses the state archive. We'll see the Collegium Gostomianum, the Renaissance gable of Opatowska Gate and the towers of the city hall and cathedral. Although Sandomierz will still delight with its charms, there will be a dark side to it. Szacki didn't come for a vacation, but to solve a murder!
© typiaczkaa._
5. "Death in Breslau. Eberhard Mock" by Marek Krajewski
If you dream of a trip to Breslau then only under the guidance of Marek Krajewski and commissioner Eberhard M ock. We will start with the policeman's apartment, which in the 1930s was located at Zwingerplazt 1 - today's Theater Square in the Sachs tenement house. Later we will visit his workplace of the Police Presidium - Schweidnitzer Stadtgraben, which is now located at 31-33 Podwale Street. And we will look for information about the murdered in Trusch's pub in "Kamienica Pod Czarnym Kozłem" at 10 Psie Budy Street. Despite the fact that Krajewski's Wroclaw is a gloomy, dangerous city - just like the main character of the criminal series, this does not take away any pleasure from wandering its streets and squares. There is even a separate publication on the subject, "Eberhard Mock's Wroclaw - A Guide Based on Mark Krajewski's Books" by Michal Karczmark.
© love_wroc
