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Original poster

Is Rosamunde Pilcher aimed at a particular age group or demographic ?

58 replies

Everyonesliverlovesparvo · 25/09/2023 19:31

Listening to one of her audiobooks ‘Winter Solstice’. Really enjoying it as a nice relaxing listen but probably only a 1/4 of the way through.
I’m mid 50s but it seems to be written in a quaint style more for folk a bit older than me. Almost twee but that’s probably not the right word to be honest and I’m wondering whether it’s the reader’s diction rather than the actual book. Normally I read/listen to psychological thrillers by authors like Lisa Jewell, Louise Candlish and Sophie Hannah so very much less cosy and far more gritty ! I guess it’s essentially the trials and tribulations of stinking rich folk, gentile types fallen on hard times and the working class salt of the earth. Are all her books like this ?

OP posts:

RJnomore1 · 27/09/2023 23:37

TheSummerITurnedChubby · 27/09/2023 09:48

I was just going to say this - the timeline is terrible!

It also included a long stay in Cornwall during which she became part of the furniture in her cousin’s house so there really were just a few weeks during which he recovered from the death of his wife and child, and shacked up with a new woman.

Show quote history

Thank goodness it’s not just me!

AlwaysReadyForABlether · 27/09/2023 13:15

I think I need to re-buy some of her books - I used to have loads but got rid of them over various house moves.
I can’t get on with audio books - downloaded a Maeve Binchy recently and the voice the narrator puts on for the child parts is like cutlery screeching on a plate!

ValuableLimeLesson · 27/09/2023 11:39

Another View is an incredibly Seasalt book. I hadn't connected the two before, but it really is!

Also love The End of Summer!

TheSummerITurnedChubby · 27/09/2023 09:48

RJnomore1 · 26/09/2023 21:23

I thought winter solstice was terrible. If I remember rightly her friend lost his wife and only child in summer, a few weeks later she was in his bed y by Xmas they were married?

I was just going to say this - the timeline is terrible!

MNetcurtains · 27/09/2023 09:43

I read her books in my thirties and loved them (a long time ago). Lovely comforting escape from everyday tedium.

AlwaysReadyForABlether · 27/09/2023 09:35

I love Rosamunde Pilcher books - so cosy and welcoming. If I want gritty reality I can just watch the news!
I think I’d like a more twee life - living in a cottage wearing Seasalt and baking using fruit I’ve gathered from the hedgerows!

GrumpyPanda · 26/09/2023 23:46

AnnaMagnani · 25/09/2023 21:11

Apparently incredibly popular in Germany where they have all been adapted for TV and are endlessly repeated.

Visited a stately home in Cornwall which had been a filming site- and used the money from filming and the subsequent onslaught of German tourists to renovate the whole house.

Yes they are. Regularly run on the public channel 2 Sunday night prime time. All shot with German actors which makes them rather excruciating to watch but always gorgeous scenery.

Georgiepud · 26/09/2023 22:59

I think her books are timeless. I particularly liked The Shellseekers, and have read it a few times on holiday.

stickybear · 26/09/2023 22:45

Everyonesliverlovesparvo · 25/09/2023 20:46

Yes comforting is a good description. I can imagine the main character dressing in Seasalt for some weird reason lol.

I love that I'm in my 30s but a fan of both Rosamund Pilcher and Seasalt, partly because they both remind me of my mother. Coming Home is a favourite of mine.

ICouldHaveCheckedFirst · 26/09/2023 21:28

@AtomicBlondeRose - as well as the plum puddings, there always seemed to be gallons of hot water for baths at all hours of the day and night in otherwise rustic houses. And no matter how long the tedious drive to get there was, there was always time for a hot bath before dinner (made by said treasure!). That's my abiding memory of RP books.

RedLem0nade · 26/09/2023 21:24

I like them even though the do all seem to have the same basic cast of characters- posh/old money but now a little shabby older lady who wears lots of floaty clothing and scarves; bustling rosy cheeked working class woman who “does” for her; impossibly elegant younger types with gazelle-like limbs.

And, of course, scrubbed oak tables in their lovely kitchens.

Rabbitbrain · 26/09/2023 21:24

I think coming home is a wonderful book. Not twee at all - it’s mostly about WW2 and there is some real suffering depicted. I haven’t enjoyed her other books as much though.

RJnomore1 · 26/09/2023 21:23

I thought winter solstice was terrible. If I remember rightly her friend lost his wife and only child in summer, a few weeks later she was in his bed y by Xmas they were married?

chipshopElvis · 26/09/2023 21:20

I read the Shell Seekers over and over as a teenager! Might dig it out!

SoIinvictus · 26/09/2023 21:15

Love the Shell Seekers and September.

Comfort food both in a literary, and literal, way.

Didn't care for Coming Home or Winter Solstice.

I find them similar to Joanna Trollope

Janinejones · 25/09/2023 22:19

She is of her time, I just checked Wikipedia. brought up in Cornwall late 1920s, she started writing in 1930s. Young adult when WW2 started, and served in WRNS. That was a very old fashioned organisation then I think.

RoseHarper · 25/09/2023 21:40

I read Winter Solstice around Christmas time every year, pure escapism. Also loved Coming Home and The Shellseekers. They are old-fashioned, comfort reads, really enjoy them if I am in the right mood.

AnnaMagnani · 25/09/2023 21:11

Apparently incredibly popular in Germany where they have all been adapted for TV and are endlessly repeated.

Visited a stately home in Cornwall which had been a filming site- and used the money from filming and the subsequent onslaught of German tourists to renovate the whole house.

PermanentTemporary · 25/09/2023 21:04

They feel eternally 1972 to me. Comforting as others say.

letmesailletmesail · 25/09/2023 20:58

I'm in my late 40s, read them as a teen and found them twee then. My grandmother, who was born in 1918, found a couple of scenes in Shellseekers a bit racy. Times have changed quite significantly!
They are still some of my favourite comfort reads.

ValuableLimeLesson · 25/09/2023 20:52

I love Rosamunde Pilcher - Another View's the first one I read, and it's still my favourite.

Also love Betty Neels, for any other vintage romance enjoyers out there! She's another quaint, of her time author.

LovedayCL · 25/09/2023 20:51

Resurrecting my old name in homage to Coming Home!

greengreengrass25 · 25/09/2023 20:49

Love her too

Books are so lovely - of their time

AtomicBlondeRose · 25/09/2023 20:48

There’s always a wonderful woman who cares for the main male character and is an absolute treasure. Always discreet but with no life of her own, and forever pulling warm plum cakes or similar from the oven. That’s the bit I think I most envy about her books tbh!