Uplifting fiction recommendations

31 replies

CatVsTree · 22/12/2023 16:12

My SIL had a terrible bereavement this year and I can't find the right book to give her. Does anyone have any last minute recommendations.

She normally loves big reads (The Hearts Invisible Furies, Goldfinch are two books she loves) but they are often quite dark. Also she tells me she has a very short attention span now so I'm looking for something short, well written, funny or uplifting.

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CatVsTree · 22/12/2023 21:00

Weirdly I have the Marriage Portrait sitting in front of me right now but I haven't read it and I"m worried after having read Hamnet that it might not be OK. . Hamnet would definitely not be OK. No death at all pls.

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SmugglersHaunt · 22/12/2023 18:17

Actually scratch the second one (Hamnet). What about a Ken Follett? They’re huge and good yarns

SmugglersHaunt · 22/12/2023 18:15

The Marriage Portrait? Hamnet?

highlandcoo · 22/12/2023 17:41

When I was going through a sad time I found the James Herriot vet books cosy and comforting. Similarly, the Miss Read Village School series or the Gervase Finn rural school inspector ones. (Although there is one sad event in Miss Read where a character loses a child so maybe better to avoid). James Herriot is pretty safe.
There's also Adriana Trigiani's Big Stone Gap series. Not chick lit, more like an undemanding family saga sort of thing.
Like your SIL I normally prefer more literary stuff but sometimes you just need to take yourself into a less challenging place

Original poster

CatVsTree · 22/12/2023 16:25

*chick

Cant edit in the app!

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CatVsTree · 22/12/2023 16:25

Sorry forgot to say not chic lit stuff. She's not a fan.

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