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Original poster

Novels about resourceful people making things happen

43 replies

fivetriangulartrees · 03/03/2023 07:43

I love stories where someone creates or achieves something through being resourceful - and the book tells you how they do it in replicable detail, so you believe it's truly possible. I'd love to find more to read like that. Can anyone recommend something that fits the bill?

The only examples I can think of right now are:

The Swish of the Curtain - children put on a show and have to sort out all the little creative and admin details to make it happen.

The Martian - astronaut figures out how to survive on Mars until he's rescued.

Similar, but not quite what I mean, is the Freeman Wills Crofts novels, where Inspector French plods through every bit of mundane information, like alterations to train timetables, to solve a case.

OP posts:
FreeButtonBee · 10/03/2023 19:19

On the Rumer Goden line ‘in this house of Brede’ is about an older women who becomes a nun in an enclosed order. Fascinating level of detail about life in a convent and all the petty niggles and issues. It does come with a bit of a trigger warning of upsetting content at the end but really brilliant book

Original poster
fivetriangulartrees · 10/03/2023 19:14

Thanks so much for all the suggestions. Can't wait to finish my current book and start on some of these.

OP posts:
Scout2016 · 10/03/2023 18:51

Cold Comfort Farm is a great suggestion. Flora's a one woman revolution.

LesserBohemians · 07/03/2023 22:13

If you like putting on a play themes, several of Antonia Forest’s school stories have convincing, detailed accounts of school plays — the first one, Autumn Term, has a no-hoper class pull off a brilliant adaptation of The Prince and the Pauper.

For resourceful, Connie Willis’ The Doomsday Book — time-travel is an academic pursuit. A resourceful, plucky undergraduate gets trapped in the Black Death and copes admirably.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 07/03/2023 22:08

Cold Comfort Farm

GracePooleslaugh · 07/03/2023 22:06

Also The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

GracePooleslaugh · 07/03/2023 22:05

If you liked The Martian you should read Project Hail Mary

Scout2016 · 07/03/2023 22:03

Mrs Benson's Beetle. I think she has luck on her side too though!

AndTheSurveySays · 03/03/2023 12:49

The Swiss family Robinson.

Original poster
fivetriangulartrees · 03/03/2023 11:27

Thanks - there are some great suggestions here. And @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g you're right, "satisfying" is the word.

OP posts:
GnomeDePlume · 03/03/2023 08:22

A Town Like Alice - especially in the second part when the heroine sets out to create a town like Alice (Springs)

The Little House on the Prairie books

SydneyCarton · 03/03/2023 08:04

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g Snap 🤣

SydneyCarton · 03/03/2023 08:03

I haven’t read The Swish of the Curtain but it sounds similar to Noel Streatfeild’s Party Shoes where a group of children organise a historical pageant.

Also A Dolls House and Miss Happiness & Miss Flower where children restore or make dolls houses. I think the second one even includes instructions in some editions!

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 03/03/2023 08:01

Party Frock, Noel Streatfield. Family of children put on a pageant that ends up involving the entire village and a local American air base too (very end of WW2).

There's quite a lot of this satisfying stuff in the Swallows and Amazons series too. Pigeon Post and Winter Holiday come to mind.

Ylvamoon · 03/03/2023 07:56

Shantaram by Gregory David Robers. One of my all time classics!

Maybe not quite what you are looking for, as its more about someone taking chances, fate and simply luck with a good dose of humanity.

FionnulaTheCooler · 03/03/2023 07:49

I've just read Aurora by David Koepp. It's about how a woman and her stepson, and their neighbours, pull together to learn how to live without electricity after a massive solar storm fries pretty much all the electricity systems on earth.

AtomicBlondeRose · 03/03/2023 07:47

Hamnet springs to mind - a lot of detail about life in the 16th/17th century, tending the herb garden etc.

Phineyj · 03/03/2023 07:45

Three Women in a Boat.

Donna Leon's Inspector Brunetti series.

The Enchanted April.

I Capture the Castle.