can anyone recommend a really good, feel good book to get lost in please

[Snozz2828]

Having an awful time at the moment and I think getting lost in a brilliant book would help. Any suggestions please?

Marian Keyes is my go-to for getting lost in a good book! I love Angels and Last Chance Saloon. Sorry you’re having a bad time at the moment

Dear Mrs Bird - AJ Pearce. A lovely read.

Anything by Rosamund Pilcher.

Peaceful, relaxing reads about families and their lives and loves.

Plainsong by Kent Haruf is lovely if you want to get lost in beautiful writing. I read it and wanted to re-read it straight away I enjoyed it so much.

The time traveller's wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

Some Day I'll Find You by Richard Madeley. Anything by Rosamund Pilcher (Shellseekers especially). Maeve Binchey's Copper Beech. The Cazelet series.

Good thread OP, I’ve been thinking of asking the same question.

Have you read ‘Heft’ by Liz Moore? It’s some years since I read it but I remember having my heart warmed by it.

Oh, I'm really sorry. Hope everything gets better for you really soon.

I only like feel-good books, so I'd recommend:

You Had Me At Hello (I genuinely LOLed all the way through) by an Irish writer with MM initials 😆

The Shell Seekers by Rosalind Pilcher

Light A Penny Candle by Maeve Binchy

The Other Side of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon (my favourite book growing up; it's not necessarily feel-good but it's gripping and pacey and therefore distracting)

Most Jilly Cooper books. I loved Riders, and then Rivals.

And The Dead Zone by Stephen King has taken my mind off a few bad patches.

Have a massive hug. 🤗

Based on a recommendation I saw here I downloaded Doomsday By Connie Willis and absolutely loved it. Time travel to the Middle Ages. Same author has written books about time travel to the Blitz and I have read both of those too.

Rosamunde Pilcher’s novels are like a hug in a book. My favourite is Coming Home but they’re all worth a read.

You had me at hello is by Mhairi McFarlane who is Scottish Highly recommend anything at all by her for the feel good factor as well as funny.

YOU LET ME GO by Eliza Graham.

Kate Atkinson's Behind the Scenes at the Museum I always find quite an absorbing one.

The Chronicles of St Mary's books (which I really should be on commission for... ) are sort of timetravelling yomps set in a universe that is very similar to this one. They are pacey and feel-good but there's still drama and tension, they are my faves for tough times.

And Maeve Binchey, of course!

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Connie Willis also wrote To Say Nothing of the Dog which is lovely and happier than Doomsday brilliant though it is.

Thanks so much everyone, I thought this thread was dead so I appreciate all the replies and we'll wishes. Lots to choose from!

The Lido - just read this and found it very heartwarming

Sorrow and bliss

Best book I have read in years

Jilly Cooper, always.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
Wink Murder by Ali Knight
anything by Helen Fitgerald, Christopher Fowler, Belinda Bauer, Lisa Jewel, Margaret Atwood…. And one more I need to look up….

….Paula Daly

Kiss Him Goodbye by Victoria Routledge is my go to book when I need a literary cuddle.

The Librarian by Sally Vickers
Death Stalks Kettle Street by John Bowen
Another vote for Dear Mrs Bird

I've just finished still life by Sarah winman which starts in the second world war in Italy returns to post war east end London and back to Italy in the sixties -it's a novel about kind people, good food and friendship and I really enjoyed it ...takes a few pages to get really into it though I was a bit distracted till the east end part but then I loved it