I need a book that will make me forget what time it is.

[Kayemm]

You know what I mean. One that you don't actually read because you are there with the characters.

I've loved:-
The Woman in White
A Prayer for Owen Meaney
Persuasion
Watership Down.
The Book Thief.
A Tale of Two Cities.

Not so much
Eleanor whatshername.
Misery memoirs.
Cloud Atlas

Throw your best suggestions at me?

Thanks.

For whom the bell tolls - Hemmingway
A fine balance - mistry
the dandelion clock - burt
the last life - messud

Came on to say The Heart's Invisible Furies, by John Boyne, but was beaten to it. Genuinely one of the best books I've ever read.
Also loved A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner, both by Khaled Hosseini

Oooooh. Thank you all. Lots there that I have read and loved.

Too many to comment on them all but thank you.

I've just reread Harry Potter, they are there as a comfort blanket for me.

I read the Susan Howatch books when they came out and loved them, lots about charismatics as I remember.

Off to check out Amazon. I will report back.

The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt
Life After Life - Kate Atkinson
Both are extremely substantial (especially the former) and you wont know what to do with yourself when you've finished them!

Winter in Madrid - CJ Samson

A slow start but incredibly absorbing and I stayed up late many evenings to keep on reading.

Harry Potter
The name of the wind
Ender's game

Not a novel but reads like one: Putin’s People by Catherine Belton
Also
The Eighth Life

Stephen fry's Mythos is excellent, especially as an audio book.

Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver

The hotel New Hampshire- or Garp- both brilliant. I loved wolf hall and got completely lost in the story.

I came here to say The Heart's Invisible Furies as well! A wonderful, engrossing book.

I've ordered the John Boyne and put some others on my list.

To those who recommended A Fine Balance - that book nearly destroyed me! I sobbed so much, similarly A Little Life.

Thank you again.

Don't know if historical fiction is your cup of tea, but Patrick O'Brians Aubrey series (the film Master & Commander Far Side Of the World is based on these) is an absolute thief of time.

His bloody project by Graeme Macrae Burnett. Set in 1869 in the Highlands. The title is off-putting imv, not sure why he chose that.

I loved His Bloody Project and chose it as my book group pick. Not everyone shared my love though.

I've recommended Where The Crawdads Sing to loads of people and they've all loved it.

an old one, so you might have read it, but Memoirs of a Geisha is great for taking you to another time and place

Have you got a library app on your kindle? I've found it a great way to read, especially over lockdown when the book shops are shut.

I'm reading A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler at the moment - absolutely love her work.

Just finished the Mars Room by Rachel Kushner set in an American womens prison. Really good! Also love everything Donna Tartt has written.

I second Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, completely absorbing, loved it.

Kindred by Octavia Butler

Raising the Stones by Sheri Tepper

Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer

Anything by Robert Harris especially:
An officer and a spy
The trilogy about Cicero
Pompeii
Fatherland
Munich

Oh and Colleen McCullough:
The masters of Rome series
Morgan's Run

I love A Tale of Two Cities. My other Dickens faves are Bleak House and Little Dorrit.

Also what about the Cazalet Chronicles if you fancy a saga to really get stuck into?