Jane recommends 5 novels about Americans Abroad

Noel Enfield in Should Have Told You Sooner is an art historian working outside Boston when her boss gives a chance to work in London–the city where, thirty years before, she began but didn’t finish her undergraduate degree. Feeling her foreignness and finding her place once again in a city she used to know so well is central to her journey. Here are five more books I recommend about Americans making their way abroad.

Persian Nights by Diane Johnson

By the author of the better known Le Divorce and Le Mariage, Persian Nights is set in Iran at the cusp of revolution as seen through the eyes of the uncomprehending Chloe Fowler. You may have to find this one at the library.

Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Nussbaum

American Anna is uprooted to Zurich when her Swiss husband decides to return to work in his home country. With her children in school and surrounded by a hard-to-warm-to community, Anna finds her new life as a housewife almost impossible to adjust to.

Strangers in Budapest

Newly transplanted to Budapest, Americans Annie and Will quickly find their lives entangled with another recent arrival who intends revenge on someone he believes harmed his daughter.

Two Nights in Lisbon

Joining her husband on a business trip to Lisbon, Ariel Pryce wakes up in their hotel room one morning to find he has vanished. As she looks for help at the American Embassy, what she comes away with are more questions. For fans of well-written, fast-paced thrillers.

American Spy

It’s 1986, and FBI intelligence officer Marie Mitchell is given a career-boosting opportunity to join a secret team intent on bringing down the charismatic leader of Burkina Faso.