Some gentle reading recommendations please

[BookWitch]

My mum is in her final weeks and while I am still reading to fill the hours and hours we seem to be waiting about, I need something easy and not too depressing. Most of my TBR pile seem to be either about people dying, or too depressing or complex.
Not chick lit or fluffy romance about coffee shops by the sea. I don't really like psychological thrillers either.
I like historical fiction, Ken Follett, I've also enjoyed The Dutch House, The Alice Network and The Familiars in the last few months.

I've thought of reading Harry Potter again as a comfort read.
Any suggestions?

Sorry to hear about your mum.

Have you read the Cazalet chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard. I found them gentle but beautifully written, covering the war and the Cazalet family but focusing on the women at home rather than the men's stories.

BookWitch, a sad time for you.

You could try:

March by Geraldine Brooks relates what happens to the absent father in Little Women during his time fighting for the North in the American Civil War. I don't usually like spin-offs of classic books but this was a good one.

Sue Gee might be good. Thin Air is a touching account of love later in life. My favourite novel of hers is Earth and Heaven however there's a very sad episode which might not be the best just now.

The Observations by Jane Harris. I recommend this to everyone. Bessy is a maid in a big Victorian house in Scotland. Something strange is going on with her mistress but she's not sure what. Bessy's narrative voice is dry and quirky; it's well written but a fun read at the same time.

When we were in the same sad situation my sister and I worked our way through Adrienna Trigiani's Big Stone Gap series. Not my usual sort of reading matter, however it was what I could concentrate on at the time. Not exactly chick-lit in the cupcakes and sparkly shoes sense, but quite cosy small-town stuff iykwim.

Also, James Herriot's vet books are pretty easy to read and comforting.

I hope things go peacefully for your mum.

The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery is lovely.

I love susan Howatch - not gentle exactly but absorbing and really great plots. She has a wonderful Starbridge series.

Agree with James Heriott.

I also hope things go peacefully for your mum.

When I'm feeling a bit less than 100% and in need of a literary cuddle, I go back to childhood books. For me, that's things like Ballet Shoes, The Secret Garden, Tom's Midnight Garden, Anne of Green Gables, the Little House books or Malory Towers.

If you want a more adult book, today I'd recommend Fortunes Rocks by Anita Shreve. It's sort of a romance, but not a chick litty type one, it's historical and it's very absorbing.

My family and other animals is a lovely read, these are for you.

💐 sorry to hear about your mum.

A River Runs through it by Diana Setterfield is another historical book.
The Seeker by SG MacLean is also good, starts off a bit slow but improves.

I’ve recently read a series by Melanie Lageschulte about a woman who returns to where she grew up and buys a farm. It’s not high literature, but the stories about the rhythm of the seasons and the caring for animals and people, is very soothing.

I’ve been in your shoes and it’s hard, but afterwards, I wouldn’t have traded that time for anything at all. I hope your mum passes peacefully and without pain.

Thanks for all those recommendations

I lost my mum in June and while waiting I delved back into my comfort food books which tend to be Bill Bryson and music based anthologies/biographies.
I also went through Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy as watching TV Merlin (all series) was my comfort food TV.

Hope it goes as peacefully for you as it can.

www.fantasticfiction.com/i/eva-ibbotson/

Gentle historical novels. I absolutely love the Secret Countess.

@QuestionableMouse

www.fantasticfiction.com/i/eva-ibbotson/

Gentle historical novels. I absolutely love the Secret Countess.

Only discovered her last year (Secret Countess was recommended by the writer Tana French in a New York Times interview) and agree - everything she writes is magical. would be perfect for the OP.

I'd second the pp who suggested digging out some beloved childhood reads: if you both already know them she won't find them so tiring.
Otherwise things which are written simply like Agatha Christie, Tom Sharpe, Bill Bryson, James Herriot or Gervais Finn are all lighter reads. Magnus Mills if your Mum (and you) like prosaic humour. They are pottering stories.

I found The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith very comforting when I was going through a difficult time. It's an easy read that does touch on loss and emotional situations and there's a whole series to keep you going.

Otherwise PG Wodehouse but I know that's an obvious choice. And classic kid's novels as PPs have said

I was also going to say the number 1 ladies’ detective agency series.

I second the Cazalet chronicles and also really rate A Gentlemen in Moscow by Amor Towles.

If you want some lighthearted historical fiction then Having the Builders In and Having the Decorators In by Reay Tannahill fit the bill - set in medieval England and dealing with building works at the family castle. Possibly out of print but copies on Ebay.

@TimeforaGandT I am glad you second the Cazalet chronicles. I found them so wonderfully evocative, slow but beautiful. I've always described them as a literary massage.

@BookWitch I hoe you have found something and that you are ok

I second My Family and Other Animals and The Observations.
Also any Barbara Pym.

James Herriot is an unbeatable comfort read for me. Sorry you're going through this.

Sorry you are going through this :-(

i second the childhood favourites suggestions. Also maybe try something like Miss Read's Fairacre books or.Elizabeth Aston's Mountjoy books (Children of Chance is the first one).