old fashioned gentle books

[mumwon]

Talking on another topic 2 of us mentioned "Mrs Harris goes to Paris" a lovely uplifting old fashioned book - ia there any books that other people like - either as a child or as an adult that you can suggest & tell us about them - briefly!
Mrs Harris is about an old fashioned char who saves & goes to Paris to buy Dior dress
& "Family at One end Street" children's story about a family with several dc before the ww2

Anything by Fannie Flagg (Fried Green Tomatoes being her most famous). Very gentle, but also funny. Red Bird Christmas is another favourite.

As a child I adored the Just William series by Richmal Crompton. Devastated that neither of my children took to them.

I saw a recommendation on Mumsnet many years ago for The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins. A fabulously old fashioned book about marriage, infidelity and relationships which I loved.

The children’s book I always recommend is Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. A wonderful novel about a little girl who is sent to live with relatives in Vermont. At first she is frightened of everything, but soon she gains confidence and becomes a strong and independent child. It’s extremely moving and simply lovely. It was written more than a hundred years ago but I find it more genuinely understanding of children’s emotional development than most books published today.

Other writers for children I would recommend: Doris Gates (especially her book Sensible Kate) and Elizabeth Enright (her books about the Melendy family, among others).

For adults, Barbara Pym and Nancy Mitford. Also A.S. Byatt’s Possession, which isn’t really a gentle book but is one of my go-to comfort rereads.

The Shrimp & The Anemone by L P Hartley. It was the first part of a trilogy but I thought the children's characters far more interesting in the first book and it stands alone pretty well.

Elizabeth & Her German Garden - Elizabeth Von Arnim. She also wrote The Caravanners, which is fantastic. I kept thinking "How can this guy have so little self-awareness and not notice what these polite English people so clearly think of him???" Truly captivating!

And Rumer Godden's Breakfast With The Nikolides. I read it on holiday and if I pick it up now, I can hear the cicadas' noise...

I have so many, I could go on for hours

heavens....my library reservations fees are going to be extortionate

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard
The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer
Diary of a Nobody by Weedon Grossmith (laugh out loud funny)
Forever Amber (romping bodice ripper set during the restoration but pretty tame as written in the 40's or 50's)
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliffe so gripping

Charlottes web
Trustee from the tool room

The Cazalet saga makes a wonderful series of audiobooks.

The Pineapple Tart by Anne Dunlop (possibly only appeals to NI readers I'm not sure)

Elizabeth and her German Garden, Elizabeth Von Arnim

I also loved The Secret Countess

Place marking some lovely ideas on here

Happyeverlftar Agree totally LOVE the famous five ,glad I m not the only one to love these books so much.(Five go down to the Sea ,really feel as though you are in Cornwall with that one,and Five go to Smugglers top very mysterious !).Just feel like i m 9 again minus XXXX years!

Mrs Pepperpot.
Ant and Bee.

Loved those books as a kid. Also the Judith Kerr Mog books and Tiger cane to Tea. Beautifully written, proper stories.

Sheeshootssheimplores Oooh I have an ancient much-thumbed copy of Ant and Bee! I've never heard them mentioned outside of my family before!

This is such a lovely thread op, thank you for starting it. I am on my way to a (non-work) meeting that I feel really nervous about, and this is thread is making me feel much better!

Has anyone yet mentioned ‘my family and other animals’ by Gerald Durrell. Beautiful tales of his time growing up in Corfu, adventures with the local wildlife and his somewhat eccentric family.

Yes to Gerald Durrell and James Herriot!
Can I also recommend Silas Marner, my absolute favourite George Eliot novel due to its lovely treatment of the relationship between an elderly man and the baby girl he adopts. It’s just lovely.

I love the Darling Buds of May books. Just as easy going and lovely as the TV series

I love the Darling Buds of May books. Just as easy going and lovely as the TV series

I listened to the first book on tape when I was about 12 with my mum on a long car trip and we had to pull over more than once because we were both laughing so much such lovely evocative joyful books

I've asked MN to move this thread to Books so we can find it more easily in future.

Shadycorner, the Flambards trilogy is a quartet! The last one is Flambards Divided. I think they get more grown up as they go on, which is appropriate since they follow Christina. Still YA rather than really adult though.

SinjunRivers, there are seven more books in the Eagle of the Ninth series.

Someone mentioned Swallows and Amazons - it wouldn't work for kids today, not least because one of the heroines is called Titty, but a lovely series of a different time.

Has anyone mentioned Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford? And Neil Gaiman's Stardust, not old but a pleasure to read.

I love Airs Above the Ground too

Mary Stewart’s Merlin trilogy is now on Audible. Read very well indeed. DP and I are listening to it in bed at the moment. As you do when you reach a certain age......

The Magic Faraway Tree series
Swallows and Amazons (I hate it personally but feels like the feel you’re going for!)
Daddy Longlegs
Howl’s Moving Castle
The Edge Chronicles is pure escapism

Yes, the Mapp and Lucia series is brilliant, very funny.
For anyone who likes Victorian, The Warden, followed by Barchester Towers, are a lovely read.

Ditto Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford.

Oh I forgot the Madeleine books and Blandings by P.G Wodehouse

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor.