Please help me find lighthearted books about single women

[MsKL]

I do like lighthearted books. Trying to recover from depression and anxiety, struggling to concentrate on anything heavy. But why are they all centred around finding love?! Is that all we've got to look forward to?

Any recommendations?

[RightOnTheEdge]

Good question OP.
I haven't got any recommendations but I'd like to know too.
I'm finding it hard to find a book because I'm not in the mood for love stories and I've read so many detective books.
It would be good to get out of my book reading rut.

[MsKL]

Hi @RightOnTheEdge. I've just finished Away with the penguins, not too much love in there except at the end really, and it was quite funny.

Hopefully someone will be along with suggestions.

[TheWindOnTheMoon]

Have you read any Barbara Pym novels? They often have single women in them, and are not romances.

[MsKL]

I haven't TheWind. I'll take a look. Any you'd particularly recommend to start with?

[highlandcoo]

Try Old Baggage by Lissa Evans.

Mattie is now in late middle age. Her best memories are of her suffragette days and she is now looking for an outlet for her energy and intelligence, so starts a club for girls on Hampstead Heath.

This is funny and touching and thought-provoking, and if you enjoy it there are the other two books in the trilogy to follow.

[highlandcoo]

Oh, and The Observations by Jane Harris is good fun.

Narrated by Bessy, a maid in a large Victorian house where there is something strange going on with her mistress. It's intriguing and amusing; I really enjoyed it.

[MsKL]

Thanks @highlandcoo looking them up now!

[BooFuckingHoo2]

Watching with interest! Every book I read about a “single” woman seems to end up with them magically finding love.

[MsKL]

Exactly @BooFuckingHoo2 ... surely it's possible to be interesting without looking for or finding love?!

[Palavah]

Miss Marple?

Or stuff by Val McDermid? I've found crime novels oddly comforting when I want to avoid stories of romance.

Alternatively biography of a female explorer eg
www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/travel/2016/mar/30/top-10-inspiring-contemporary-uk-female-adventurers

Or, less recent, Gertude Bell or similar?

[redfernsydney]

I have just finished the single thread by tracey chevalier. ....I enjoyed it...its about a single woman in the inter war period. ok.,There is a bit of romance. .it is not the main focus and it's a bit different to my normal choice, of thriller or contemporary novel

[MsKL]

Thanks.

It just seems, unless it's historical fiction or crime, there's nothing, it's all love and happy ever afters!

[DemolitionBarbie]

Lolly willowes is good. It's interwar tho.

Spinster aunt is so fed up with family using her as a skivvy that she goes to the country and becomes a witch.

[BooFuckingHoo2]

Someone needs to write a book about a modern day single woman who’s still single at the end of the book .

[MsKL]

Definitely! There must be other things to write about than love?

[TheWindOnTheMoon]

@MsKL I'd start with Crampton Hodnet. It's my favourite Barbara Pym and it's very funny.

[MsKL]

Thanks. Im not sure if it'll be a bit too old fashioned, but I'll download a kindle sample and see. I do prefer current day fiction.

[Viviennemary]

I second Or even third Barbara Pym. Though a younger person might find them a bit dated.

[StrikingMatches]

Not a work of fiction but I love this Rough Guide travel book. It features lots of stories of women who travelled alone. I found it very inspiring and the places visited are so diverse.

[BobbinThreadbare123]

I know it's crime, but Sue Grafton's Alphabet series is great. Kinsey Millhone is a great character. She's a PI in California. Series starts in 1980 when she's 30, and finishes as it turns to 1990 and she's 40. Except poor Sue died just after she finished Y....doesn't take away from the series tbh.

[TheWindOnTheMoon]

Have you read Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams? It's modern, she's single but thinks she wants a relationship, although that's not what she really needs. I read it last year. Lots of strong female characters. I loved it.

[MsKL]

Thanks, I'll look at that.

In the past I've loved books like The Queen and I.

[princessspotify]

Jill Mansell writes fairly light-hearted books about single women

[princessspotify]

Sorry just read the op again. Maybe not Jill Mansell as they're lovey dovey

[MaudTheInvincible]

Another vote for Barbara Pym! I'd also recommend Sylvia Townsend Warner and Stella Gibbons.