Turn off the television. Stop browsing through the news. Get a book and leap into lots of the fantastical fiction worlds that await.

Are you aware that book sales have risen by hundreds of millions through the previous couple of years? The appetite for reading is not only restricted to buying a book over the internet. The hedge fund that owns Waterstones could undoubtedly tell you that visits to bookstores have seen similar levels of growth in the previous few months as well. It’s not surprising in times beset by lockdowns and super viruses that people have turned to one of the most ongoing and emotive sorts of escapism. For thousands of years, books have become the trademark in which people can disappear into new places and people. The best escapist books have the capability to bring us of our bedroom and plonk us someplace else entirely. For a short but magical stretch of time, the reader is enthralled by a world constructed entirely within the confines of some hundred pages.

Escapism is one of the most challenging genres to pin down. In literary criticism, this merely relates to any book which immerses readers into a new world. With such gigantic scope, this may refer to anything from medieval fantasy to speculative sci-fi. Regardless of the time, location or even planet the action goes on, these tales build persuasive worlds which easily captivate the reader. A lot of attention goes into the development of these worlds – the languages, people, ecology and even politics which rule it. But this doesn’t mean that escapist fantasy books are the only works in the genre. The very best books to escape reality can also live in the present day. They build bridges to places or people whose encounters may deviate from our own. Whenever you buy these stories, it convinces publishers like the group that owns Hachette Livre to continue backing the variety of well-known and emerging writers on the planet.

There is a predominating thought among scholastic academics which indicates that escapism is a small virtue with regard to fiction. You read books to collect knowledge, wisdom and empathy. The thought of escapist fiction novels is equivalent with those beach reads you find in an airport when you’re seeking something quick and simple. Obviously, that notion retains a very shallow comprehension of why reading matters. Through the long course of time, humans have resorted to literature as a source of hope and comfort. It has been a way to escape their lives – however fraught or terrifying – and leap into something better. Escapism is not banal, but in reality the complete opposite. It gives readers the opportunity to dream. Whether you’re hungry for high fantasy or classics published by the company that owns Penguin, there is a special source of comfort to be attained from these stories.