Escapist novels, bit magic-ky or comforting but not cheesy?

[WhyPie]

I long to really get lost in something but haven't been able to for years, I like:

1. Magic books but not too out of this world (eg I liked Leigh Bardugo, Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, for example)

1. Comforting reads that don't feature war or death (at least directly.) I enjoyed I Capture the Castle, lots of Thomas Hardy)

I have so much hope for your help!

Definitely The Night Circus - Brilliant!

If you liked what you read of Jonathan Strange, restart it on a holiday when you know you will have time to finish (I had to do that - twice - but it was worth it).
Also try Suzanna Clarke's short stories The Ladies of Grace Adieu

Definitely try Natasha Pulley, The Watchmaker of Filligree Street, The Lost Future of Pepperharrow, and Bedlam Stacks.
I was less keen on her novel The Kingdoms, but might try again.

Sarah Perry's first book The Essex Serpent is excellent - good superstition vs rationalism debate underpins it! But I found Melmoth dreary and hard going.

A little bit magical:
All the birds in the sky by Charlie Jane Anders
Piranesi by Suzanne Clark (this book is beautiful)
Anything from the David Mitchell universe but particularly The Bone Clocks, Cloud Atlas and Ghostwritten

Not magical but on my comfort reads:
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
The Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers (character and story driven sci-fi)
The Crow Road by Iain Banks

I highly recommend Robin Hobb, if you haven’t already read her.

Have you read the Cazalet Chronicles? 5 book 30s-40s saga - if you like I Capture you Might really like that

How to Stop Time - Matt Haig - I’m not a general fan of his (other than the Radleys) but this is a fabulous time travel romance

laural k hamilton
:Anita Blake is the primary character of this long-running paranormal series. The urban fantasy setting includes supernatural characters like vampires and werewolves. Blake's responsibilities as a vampire hunter include re-animating the dead as well as the hunting and executing of vampires and other creatures that have broken the law.

Also the Philip Pullman trilogy - children’s books I know, but a lot in them.

You might like the Mists of Avalon Marion Bradley

I found this series excellent at the start, and then turned in to just smut in the later books

@WhyPie They're more interesting than they sound, but how about Susan Howatch's series? I read them long before I was a Christian. Some of the characters are things like Anglican priests with charismatic/healing gifts - how can they resist the temptation to use their powers for personal gain?

She wrote a lot of books. You could start with the first one of the Starbridge series, Glittering Images. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Glittering-Images-Susan-Howatch/dp/000649689X

The Night Circus

Once Upon a River

Both brilliant 😊

Absolutely second this, and another by TJ Klune - Under The Whispering Door.

Another recommendation for The Night Circus it's everything you first requested

me too! Same with the Merry Gentry novels.

OP, take a look at Ilona Andrew’s
Kate Daniels series, or Sarah j Maas A Court of Thorns and Roses, or the Caraval Trilogy

This my first thought too - utter escapism & magic.

Or Mary Stewart's Arthurian trilogy is a real comfort read.

Such great recommendations! Love Susan Howatch - I read her wheel of fortune series a while ago

What about Sarah Addison Allen? Her books are quite light but real lovely escapism with a dash of magic

The Night Circus is another one I started and then never finished due to some life event. I remember loving it. I have the starless sea too, must revisit

Once upon a river looks good. And Natasha pulley. You're spoiling me!

Anne McCaffrey’s Dragons of Pern series is good.

I recently read and enjoyed The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna.

I would definitely second the recommendation of the Terry Pratchett books.

The Kingsfountain series by Jeff Wheeler is magic-y and loosely based on medieval history. Very very easy to read.

Discovery of witches by Deborah harkness
Anything by trudi Canavan.
Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
Eragon by Christopher paloini
A court of thorns and roses by Sarah j Maas (graphic sex scenes in there though)

Terry Pratchett!
Ursula K Le Guin
Daphne du Maurier
Elizabeth Goudge

I found The Frogmorton Farm series by Jodi Taylor to be warm and comforting. The first one is The Nothing Girl. I listened to them and the narrator was great, but would also work well to read.

I can also highly recommend A discovery of witches by Deborah Hawks.

I know it's got everything you asked for and everything you don't want...

But have a look at the The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A Chakraborty.
It's such a beautifully written story around Persian/ Arab mythology.
The books definitely fit in with the other suggestions in terms of aimed at adult readers and not late teens/ young adults as so many magic / fantasy books are.

I came on to recommend Neverwhere!

Hmm. Have you tried Einstein's Dreams? It's short stories, vignettes really, on worlds where time moves differently. I love it!

Another one for the Jodi Taylor Frogmorton series but her St Mary's series are excellent too. She's also done another trilogy - Elizabeth Cage which I devoured although a little bit darker I thought