Escapist novels where (importantly) nothing bad happens!

[Vinopoly]

I just want to escape to somewhere else and get lost in fluffiness with no peril whatsoever. Have you ever read something that meets this criteria and is also good? I need cheering up!

Jeeves and Wooster and James Herriot which I've seen recommended a lot. The Jeeves ones I can heartily recommend with nothing worse happening than the wrong suit being brought to London for the season!

I like the Sophie Kinsella Shopaholic series.

Georgette Heyer - The Grand Sophy might particularly fit the bill. Sweet and very funny

Anything by Jill Mansell.

Jenny Colgan always cheers me up.
Sarah Addison Allen books are perfect too, very magical.
I also love the chronicles of st Mary’s, they always end well, even if there’s some touch & go bits!
If you like non stressful murder mysteries the Euphemia Martins series by Caroline Dunford is entertaining as are the lady Emily mysteries by Tasha Alexander.

The Lark by E.Nesbit. Lovely, funny, sweet.

Mary Douglas. Romantic adventure.

Chalet School books.
And Gwendoline Courtney too.

I find children's books fit the bill for me best.

Angela Thirkell books. Absolutely nothing much happens in them. But they are very funny and there are lots of them spanning 1930s-1950s.

All of the Miss Read books unless you count the threat of rain on the day of the village fate as peril.

I also love the chronicles of st Mary’s, they always end well, even if there’s some touch & go bits!

God, not the last but one though. It was very stressful.

Jilly Cooper. James Herriot. Chris Stewart (he moves to Valencia, nothing happens for three books but it's very restful).

Lucy Diamond books always make me smile

I’ve got a lot of escapist books in mind but literally there’s a pinch of peril in all of them !

• Sophie Kinsella books such as The Undomestic Goddess, Can You Keep A Secret, Twenties Girl

• Jenny Colgan

• Alexandra Potter

• Lindsey Kelk I Heart series

The Enchanted April.

A Gentleman In Moscow by Amer Towles. Pretty much nothing happens but it is a lovely book.

Miss Read books.
Also the ‘My Friend...’ books Jane Duncan
Although there are a few happenings, it’s not like nuclear war.

Bill Bryson. Not fluffy but always makes me laugh.

Oh great, thank you! The only one I've read on this list is The Enchanted April. I'll work through them. I've never read any Jilly Cooper. I suppose a tiny bit of peril that will clearly be resolved is ok

The Mapp & Lucia books are hilarious!

Also the corfu trilogy by Gerald durrell (didn't realise until a few years ago that my family and other animals had sequels), plus he wrote loads of books about his days as an animal collector around the world which are very funny too.

Angela Thirkell. So funny, engaging and observant. I also like Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals.

The Fortnight in September by RC Sheriff, it's old but lovely. Nothing really happens to a family on holiday in Bognor.

Another vote for Lucy Diamond. And the Veronica Henry "Beach Hut" novels are light fun.

Pretty much any of Georgette Heyer’s Regency novels. Friday’s Child and Frederica are personal favourites (spoiler alert, everything is all right in the end).

Do not listen to anyone who suggests Three Men In a Boat - it’s a trap.

A warning about James Herriot - there are some sad/bittersweet stories although it's all very gentle, but if the death of an occasional animal would upset you they might not be what you want.