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Original poster

What is the last book you read that made your heart swell?

40 replies

AnotherEmilee · 01/10/2025 21:57

I have been feeling really miserable recently and I want to read something that will fill me with a warm glow. The kind of heart swelling feeling I get when Mr Knightly is telling Emma that if he loved her less he might be able to talk about it more or Mr Darcy is telling Elizabeth how much he ardently admires and loves her.

I have already read all of Georgette Heyer's regency romances along with most books that come up when you Google what should I read if I like Jane Austen.

It doesn't have to be historical, I am happy with any time period or setting but I do prefer no or very little sex. I have read a lot of YA fantasy romance as YA books generally don't contain sex but they do all have love triangles and annoying teenage characters.

I am looking forward to reading The Hallmarked Man but I am waiting for my reservation of it to come in at the library.

What can I read in the meantime?

OP posts:
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biedrona · 06/11/2025 22:04

Seascraper

CrazyCatMam · 06/11/2025 21:18

The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne. I laughed and I sobbed, several times. Stunning. Didn’t want it to end.

Clawdy · 06/11/2025 09:15

The Amateur Marriage - Anne Tyler. That last page was so moving.

PersisFord · 29/10/2025 19:23

Thanks to this thread I've got the most joyful bag of library books I've had for a while!

I also LOVE The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice but have never met anyone else who has read it!

Edited because I recommended Georgette Heyer like an idiot!!

shellyleppard · 25/10/2025 21:29

Jo jo Moyes the giver of stars ❤️❤️❤️ the book of beginnings by sally page

MaxandMeg · 25/10/2025 21:29

'The Making of a Marchioness' by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
'The Semi-Attached Couple' and 'The Semi-Detached House' by Emily Eden.

OnlyFangs · 25/10/2025 21:23

Kerrisk · 02/10/2025 10:30

Kate Grenville’s The Idea of Perfection. Literary fiction, a relationship between a shy engineer come to replace an old wooden bridge with a new concrete one in a small town in rural Australia and the gruff museum curator who opposes the scheme. Beautifully written, warm-hearted and clever.

Oh yes this is brilliant, on so many levels

ElizabethVonArnim · 19/10/2025 15:55

LethargeMarg · 09/10/2025 18:05

The wedding people. Starts off very sad but really uplifting. Everyone I’ve recommended this book too loved it

Yes, I liked this one too - spent the first half sobbing though. Thank goodness it cheers up!

ElizabethVonArnim · 19/10/2025 15:55

Still Life by Sarah Winman
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim

All have those uplifting moments.

looselegs · 19/10/2025 15:40

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle is absolutely lovely!

MissyB1 · 10/10/2025 07:34

LethargeMarg · 09/10/2025 18:05

The wedding people. Starts off very sad but really uplifting. Everyone I’ve recommended this book too loved it

Yes I enjoyed that one too.

LethargeMarg · 09/10/2025 18:05

The wedding people. Starts off very sad but really uplifting. Everyone I’ve recommended this book too loved it

CatChant · 06/10/2025 21:17

MissyB1 · 02/10/2025 10:40

Three days in June by Anne Tyler. I loved every single word, I didn't want it to end!

Yes, I agree wholeheartedly. It is a lovely book.

BG2015 · 06/10/2025 20:32

I also agree with Frank and Red, never laughed and cried so much. Great book.

MargotMoon · 04/10/2025 07:44

Oh yes definitely The Shell Seekers. Never read any other Rosamunde Pilcher, are any of the others as good as that?

123teenagerfood · 03/10/2025 21:29

Frank and Red by Matt Coyne features a grumpy old man named Frank and a six-year-old boy named Red who becomes his unlikely friend and neighbour.

Kerrisk · 02/10/2025 12:47

RedRec · 02/10/2025 12:14

I tried reading Cold Comfort Farm many years ago and didn't really get on with it. But, in the light of this comment, will give it another go!

Show quote history

Try it after Precious Bane or other Mary Webb type books — have you read Gone to Earth? I think CCF is an affectionate parody, and it’s possible to both love PB and similar ‘soil and gloom romance’ books and also enjoy them being mocked.

RedRec · 02/10/2025 12:14

Kerrisk · 02/10/2025 10:31

I love Precious Bane! Though I also then immediately go on to read Cold Comfort Farm every time I read it.😀

Show quote history

I tried reading Cold Comfort Farm many years ago and didn't really get on with it. But, in the light of this comment, will give it another go!

Kerrisk · 02/10/2025 11:09

Also, if you like Austen, I actually very much like Joan Aiken’s sequel to Mansfield Park, Mansfield Revisited — it’s lightly done, but has a very good sense of Austen’s moral toughness, lightness of touch and humour. It gets Fanny and Edmund offstage to Antigua, and has Susan Price as the protagonist, Julia Bertram as a comically awful replacement for Aunt Norris, and reintroduces the Crawfords, Lady Bertram and Tom Bertram.

(She has also written other Austen books, one about Jane Fairfax and another about the daughter of Willboughy’s cast-off mistress, which includes some of the later lives of Elinor and Marianne, but I haven’t read either. And a number of Regency romances, of which I’d recommend Deception.)

shellyleppard · 02/10/2025 10:51

The giver of stars by jo jo Moyes is a really beautiful story. Me before you is another one but I always cry at the end 😭

inamo · 02/10/2025 10:49

The Secret Life of Bees

Puppylucky · 02/10/2025 10:49

Demon Copperhead - just such a satisfying ending to a totally engrossing story.

Hoolahoophop · 02/10/2025 10:48

Rosamunde Pilcher gentle heartwarming stuff. Love it.

Thewalrusandthecarpenter · 02/10/2025 10:40

I Capture the Castle
The Shell Seekers

MissyB1 · 02/10/2025 10:40

Three days in June by Anne Tyler. I loved every single word, I didn't want it to end!

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