Guidebooks give you the facts about a place, but fiction goes to the soul. Keiran Falconer offers inspiration, while top travel authors tell us what books they're packing.
Struck down with an ear infection on a yoga holiday in Kerala, Michelle Pauli found that a week immersed in Sarah Waters's oeuvre proved the perfect rest-cure.
Nic Ford discovered JP Martin's Uncle while on holiday in Scotland aged 10 - and found that even rain can't dampen a holiday if your book is good enough