Family fallouts, failing marriages, sunburn, food poisoning … from Deborah Levy\u2019s hypnotic and disturbing Hot Milk to All In, Claire Powell\u2019s all-inclusive nightmare, Leon Craig looks at the best novels about vile vacations<\/p>\n
Every summer, we long for a much-needed break from daily life, dreaming of self-reinvention in some distant paradise. But really, holidays can be absolute hell. Instead of relaxation we encounter heaving crowds, lumpy beds, the caprices of our loved ones and the grim truth that we can escape neither their worst failings nor our own, however far we travel.<\/p>\n
Small wonder, then, that the disaster holiday has become a booming subgenre in fiction. For most of us, the levels of luxury promised by hit TV series The White Lotus<\/a> are pure fantasy, yet we\u2019re all vulnerable to the expensive promises we\u2019ve been sold. Two of the smartest offerings in fiction this summer come from Claire Powell\u2019s All In and Chlo\u00eb Ashby\u2019s Family Friends. In the former, a struggling couple whose marriage is on the rocks go on an all-inclusive Spanish weekend break, paid for by a rich brother. Poignant and extremely funny, the frictions that ensue are all too believable.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/ccde0dc99b60ed600ce600c7e240344e3cecf3ee\/366_0_8050_6440\/master\/8050.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=23676fa55c680a63ebd0530be6680c3c\" "\\"Feel")
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