'Old Lady' Christmas Book

[PiratePenguin]

On the 1st December we all have a Christmas book. This year it's my turn to buy them. My mum is 84 and I have no idea what book to get her. She's not that in to mysteries so can anyone recommend a book that she'd like? She watches Call the Midwife and read lots of Catherine Cookson 'way back when'. Village / gentle style books is kind of her style. Any suggestions welcome - along with many thanks!

Op can we ask what you've ordered?

I was going to suggest Winter Solstice - clearly I have excellent taste!

About 6 months ago I asked on here for recommendations for books as I was having horrible intrusive thoughts and nightmares. I had excellent suggestions. It worked out brilliantly as nobody was trying to convert me or educate me. I got what I asked for and sure enough my depression has eased so I'm back to my normal genre.

Mrs palfrey at the Claremont, by Elizabeth Taylor (no relation) is another lovely gentle but well observed story.

I agree Mrs Palfrey is a lovely book - as are all Elizabeth Taylor's. If your mum hasn't read those OP, I think she'd like them.

I came on the thread to suggest Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club. I've just finished it, and it would fit the bill - cosy, well characterised, with dry humour. I loved it.

The Jean Webster books are a fee download because they are out of copyright. Ditto some of the other, older books mentioned.
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/157
The Gutenberg project offers lots of older books for free

The Complete Diary of a Provincial Lady are available for 49p on Amazon
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Provincial-Lady-Complete-Original-Illustrations-ebook/dp/B01349995U/ref=pdvtpp3511/262-6315587-8256738??encoding=UTF8&pdrddi=B01349995U&pdrddr=a0d46859-3120-42ea-8943-5ec9a0a3501e&pdrddw=AuSQs&pdrddwg=xLEGw&pfrddp=768b5a93-0842-4c9d-8f7f-107f5eb91a6d&pfrddr=E9JBST4YMFC9215QS2P6&psc=1&refRID=E9JBST4YMFC9215QS2P6

Alexander McCall Smith’s 44 Scotland Street series. A lovely writer with poignant vignettes of the people that live there. A very gentle read.

mrsmuddlepies, we clearly have similar tastes. Amazon also have 15 E M Delafield novels, including the Provincial Lady ones, plus her short stories for 99p.
Nice to see Jean Webster’s Just Patty and Patty Goes to College on the Gutenberg list. I have a very old edition of ‘College’ which was originally called Patty and Priscilla.
Sadly, the OP is probably not looking for Kindle books for her mum, but if her mum does not have a Kindlle, that would make a good present.

The reason I mentioned the kindle books and Gutenberg Project was in case anyone is, like me, reading this thread for suggestions for themselves 😀

A suggestion from me too. A Country Child by Alison Uttley. Lovely chapter on Christmas

Yes, mrsmuddlepies, and thanks to the thread, I have just ordered “Mrs Palfrey” .

Various Elizabeth Goudge suggestions, but so far no ‘A City of Bells’. It contains Christmas chapters

Ah, thank you for the Jean Webster! just what I needed this morning.
(An aside: can't beat a bit of L M Montgomery....)

Elizabeth Goudge, "The Dean's Watch" is also set round and about Christmas but I always find it rather sad, so I didn't suggest that one.
And I think someone mentioned Miss Read's "The Christmas Mouse"?

I agree with you Cattermole, about the Dean's Watch, not very festive.

My DGM liked Gervase Phinn and although not Christmas related, she also enjoyed the books Lavinia Derwent wrote about her early life in the Scottish borders.

I had to get them second hand since they were out of print but she didn't mind that.

@mrsmuddlepies

The Complete Diary of a Provincial Lady are available for 49p on Amazon [[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Provincial-Lady-Complete-Original-Illustrations-ebook/dp/B01349995U/ref=pd]]vtpp3511/262-6315587-8256738??encoding=UTF8&pdrddi=B01349995U&pdrddr=a0d46859-3120-42ea-8943-5ec9a0a3501e&pdrddw=AuSQs&pdrddwg=xLEGw&pfrddp=768b5a93-0842-4c9d-8f7f-107f5eb91a6d&pfrddr=E9JBST4YMFC9215QS2P6&psc=1&refRID=E9JBST4YMFC9215QS2P6

@mrsmuddlepies thank you so much for this and the Jean Webster link! I’ve read all of them many times in the past, but not for years now & I’ve no idea where they are (& I think my very old, cheap, American edition Daddy Long Legs fell apart) so I’m delighted to have them safely on my phone now

Mariana by Monica Dickens from Persephone Books would fit the bill, a lovely story with lots of humour

I second this. I read it recently, and it's a great book. Monica Dickens is a sadly neglected writer.,

Monica Dickens did write some nice stories - I agree about Mariana, & the Happy Prisoner and Flowers in the Grass are lovely reads too.

(She was somewhat anti-Semitic though. It comes through in a few characters )

Silas Marner! I can’t remember if it has a Christmas scene but it’s really heartwarming.

Dusty Answer by Rosamund Lehmann
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
I Capture the Castle
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

Susan Howatch wrote a fabulous clerical series set in fictional Starbridge. It has some paranormal elements but is really fascinating and it is always lovely to find a series of books.

I read a lot of Monica Dickens in my teens - from second hand bookshops. They were lovely. Don't think I read Mariana so off to find that now.

It is a pity that Persephonepromotes didn't take the opportunity to recommend books with a similar feeling - happy/comforting/cosy - from other cultures/literary traditions. I'd be interested in that. I have ordered Little Boy Lost from the library.

I really enjoyed Monica Dickens’ semi-autobiographical books about her varied working life as a home help, a nurse and a journalist on a local paper - One Pair of Hands, One Pair of Feet and My Turn to Make the Tea. They are fascinating and funny, although very much of their time in some of the attitudes and language, which can make for uncomfortable reading at times.

There are some great recommendations on this thread, and thanks to mrsmuddlepies for the Gutenberg Project suggestion - I’ll enjoy having a rummage!

She probably read them already, but the Mapp and Lucia series are a thing of loveliness (albeit not Christmas themed).

AwkwardSquad, talking of autobiographies, Rumer Godden's are also very interesting - 'A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep', and 'A House with Four Rooms' - considering she was a contemporary of Monica Dickens, their lives were very different.

Thank you for that, diplodocusinermine, I shall have a look. I haven’t read her novels but I absolutely loved several of her children’s books when I was little

Oooh, I am loving this thread!
I spent many years working in libraries and devoured all sorts of books from all sorts of genres.
I left my home country at 18, then married and had children young and stayed near my university. Sometimes I needed some gentle comfort reading to get me through the hard times, and I still do.

I have been delighted to see so many of my favourites mentioned, too many to highlight them all. In particular, Lilian Beckwith and Miss Read, they are so of their time and I like to think back to all the changes I have seen.

My guilty pleasure is Nora Roberts and JD Robb, I love her writing. Georgette Heyer is wonderful beyond measure and I constantly turn to Terry Pratchett.

I hope your mother enjoys her books, I keep seeing her as a lovely Miss Marple, wise in so many ways and so experienced in the ways of the world.

I am beginning to think we need an Nice Book-Anon, where we can admit to putting aside Good Literature and Worthy Tomes-in favour of gentle reminiscence and pleasant reading.

I am Earthy and I am a fan of Agatha Christie, Father Brown stories and Lord Peter Wimsey 😊

Earthy, I'm sure we all go back to these quiet gentle books in times of stress. Same with TV programmes - I am sick to death of 'edgy' dramas and violent crime and thrillers on TV. I'm afraid I'm reverting to period dramas and the like. All Creatures Great and Small has been a welcome breath of fresh air these last few weeks!