Please recommend writers like Elizabeth Bowen

Dappy777 · 2026-08-04T17:35:43+00:00

I have just finished my first Elizabeth Bowen and really enjoyed it. I think I will work my way through her other stuff as well. Can anyone recommend a similar writer? It's going to be like my Iris Murdoch obsession all over again – I will read all her novels and then be miserable that the author is dead and gone and will never publish anything else.😟

Shloopie · 04/08/2026 22:36

Molly Keane

Shloopie · 04/08/2026 22:42

And maybe Ivy Compton-Burnett

mimbleandlittlemy · 05/08/2026 13:22

Rosamund Lehmann

Theweedshavewon · 05/08/2026 13:23

Which book did you read OP?

JennyChawleigh · 05/08/2026 14:01

Elizabeth Taylor?

Original poster

Dappy777 · 05/08/2026 14:06

Theweedshavewon · 05/08/2026 13:23

Which book did you read OP?

The Last September. I am a sucker for country houses, cocktails and upper class speech. I know I'm betraying my working class ancestors, but there you go. Aldous Huxley, Evelyn Waugh, Anthony Powell, Oscar Wilde, P G Wodehouse, Virginia Woolf...I am ashamed of myself!!😞

Thanks for the recommendations everyone x

OP posts:

DreamingOfGeneHunt · 05/08/2026 14:20

Mollie Panter Downes?

Footle · 05/08/2026 14:47

Have a good look at the Rather Dated threads on the MN Books forum.
Also Persephone Books list of reprinted novels.

mimbleandlittlemy · 05/08/2026 17:08

E M Delafield - The Diary of a Provincial Lady
F Tennyson Jess - A Pin to See the Peepshow
Elizabeth von Arnim - Enchanted April
E H Young - Chatterton Square or Miss Mole
Stella Gibbons - Cold Comfort Farm

MotherofPearl · 05/08/2026 17:25

Footle · 05/08/2026 14:47

Have a good look at the Rather Dated threads on the MN Books forum.
Also Persephone Books list of reprinted novels.

Yes, please do join us, OP:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/what_were_reading/5029141-the-mumsnet-rather-dated-book-group-all-welcome-to-join?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

📚The Mumsnet 'Rather Dated' Book Group - All welcome to join📚 | Mumsnet

Welcome to the Mumsnet 'Rather Dated' Book Group, where we read and discuss fiction from the 1930s to the 1990s that would have been described as 'con...

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Anothernameretired · 05/08/2026 17:29

Elizabeth Taylor
Barbara Pym

MotherofPearl · 05/08/2026 17:32

Dappy777 · 05/08/2026 14:06

The Last September. I am a sucker for country houses, cocktails and upper class speech. I know I'm betraying my working class ancestors, but there you go. Aldous Huxley, Evelyn Waugh, Anthony Powell, Oscar Wilde, P G Wodehouse, Virginia Woolf...I am ashamed of myself!!😞

Thanks for the recommendations everyone x

Show quote history

Nancy Mitford? I find her novels very funny.

Original poster

Dappy777 · 05/08/2026 17:47

MotherofPearl · 05/08/2026 17:32

Nancy Mitford? I find her novels very funny.

Show quote history

Ah, yes, good choice. She has been on my to-read list for a while – especially Love in a Cold Climate

OP posts:

Theweedshavewon · 06/08/2026 11:31

Definitely read Nancy Mitford, has all the elements, plus like the last September has brilliant brilliant dialogue.

i capture the castle, has similar vibes though different location and subject!

if you want to stay Irish, try The Real Charlotte - a dream.

avoiding the dated book club until I finish my current job (also the chalet school threads) as then I am going to hurl myself into them!

WildCherryBlossom · 06/08/2026 11:40

Definitely Nancy Mitford!

Bonden · 06/08/2026 11:50

Trollope.
Ford Maddox Ford.
Mary Wesley

exexpat · 06/08/2026 11:52

I would second the recommendations for Rosamund Lehmann and Elizabeth Taylor, and add Rumer Godden (of a similar era and style).

Terpsichore · 06/08/2026 17:32

Definitely the wonderful Elizabeth Taylor. I'll also suggest Rebecca West.

Slightly more left-field, but potentially very interesting, is Dorothy Richardson - 25 years or so Bowen's senior, and one of the earliest to write in the stream-of-consciousness style. Her 13-volume Pilgrimage series ran from 1915 to 1967 and drew on her own life.

Original poster

Dappy777 · Yesterday 16:42

mimbleandlittlemy · 05/08/2026 17:08

E M Delafield - The Diary of a Provincial Lady
F Tennyson Jess - A Pin to See the Peepshow
Elizabeth von Arnim - Enchanted April
E H Young - Chatterton Square or Miss Mole
Stella Gibbons - Cold Comfort Farm

I have just added The Enchanted April to my reading list. Thankyou for the recommendation😁

OP posts:

Original poster

Dappy777 · Yesterday 16:43

Bonden · 06/08/2026 11:50

Trollope.
Ford Maddox Ford.
Mary Wesley

Yes, Madox Ford has been on my to-read pile for years. The TV series with Benedict Cumberbatch was excellent.

OP posts:

Arregaithel · Yesterday 16:47

You may find this useful @Dappy777

MrsMavisPike · Yesterday 19:46

mimbleandlittlemy · 05/08/2026 17:08

E M Delafield - The Diary of a Provincial Lady
F Tennyson Jess - A Pin to See the Peepshow
Elizabeth von Arnim - Enchanted April
E H Young - Chatterton Square or Miss Mole
Stella Gibbons - Cold Comfort Farm

Great recommendations-I love all these and they fit OP's bill!