Gentle books

[BillyBarryBoo]

Can anyone recommend something "gentle"?
I can't read more murdered women, missing children, historical fiction where women are accused of being witches. Slavery, mistreated people I'm finding I can't read these books even though they are so important. I can't handle tense right now!

I do like police procedurals - Jane Casey's Maeve Kerrigan, Inspector Frost, Inspector Wexford . I like Jane Harper.
I also like Graham Norton, Rosamond Pilcher.

I read a lot. But I can't seem to find a non- brutal read at the moment. It doesn't have to be rainbows and butterflies either but not violent.

Thank you

If you want cosy crime, the Anthony Horowitz Magpie Murders and The Sentence is Death series are both well-written but with no gruesome details.

For non-crime books, anything by Anne Tyler, Elizabeth Strout, Ann Patchett, Deborah Moggach, Lissa Evans. All well-written and gentle, but still deal with big emotions.

Eva Ibbotson's books are my comfort reads. The YA ones. Georgette Heyer. Carla Kelly writes lovely books, kindle has lots of hers.

Barbara Pym's books are interesting in that they're a study in what life was like for (a certain type/class) of woman in this country in the first part of the 20th century.

The seamstress being booked in the diary at yours & the other village occupants houses & asked to re-seam sheets, the church cake sale being an important part of the diary and so on.

After a few you will be ready for another action-packed tale. They are well-written though. Beautifully understated.
Philip Larkin was a big fan apparently.

Richard Osman's books are still crime but very very gentle and funny at the same time :).

I just read Dear Mrs Bird, and it was a very easy gentle read.

Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer and Terry Pratchett are my go to for then I don't have the resilience for sadness.

Also, Belinda Bauer is good try in that vein.

LindaEllen I second that. Just finished his second one. Didn't want it to end.

Mrs Read. I love the Fairacre series but there's a Thrush Green series as well. Ascerbic but gentle.

Father Brown for me, if you want a gentle, sedate murder, or Poirot maybe.

I like police detective novels because the crime happens at the beginning then they unravel it, much gentler than anything which builds suspense throughout.
During lockdown I discovered DCI Ryan books by LJRoss. I also really like Chronicles of St Mary's by Jodi Taylor. Funny, easy to read but very engaging.

Thanks for all the recommendations! I have loads to go on. Thank you 😊

Lillian Beckwith's stories set on a Hebridean Island.
Susan Hill - The Magic Apple Tree
Lavinia Derwent's autobiographical stories of growing up in the Scottish Borders
D E Stevenson
Dodie Smith - I Capture the Castle
Barbara Trapido
Miss Read has already been mentioned - the village school books are where I turn if I'm feeling frazzled.

For the Love of a Rose is a great little book. A true story, it's a family history about the creation of the "Peace" rose.

Diary of a Provincial Lady by EM Delafield. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. PG Wodeshouse, particularly the Jeeves and Wooster series. All amusing. For something more recent what about Lissa Evans, Old Baggage is a joy but it is a bit more spikey than the others. Still set between the wars though!

Joanna Cannon's books might be a good fit

PG Wodehouse and Nancy Mitford for me.
When I'm ill I read the Moomins.

Second vote for Eva Ibbotson.

I love Magpie Murders. I recommend Mrs Buncle’s book.

The Cazalet Chronicles.

Oh, and Rosamund Pilcher.

I often go to Alexander McCall Smith for gentle reads.

I like the Alexander McColl books too, particularly the Scottish ones.

David J Gatward police procedures with DCI Grimm are good, set in Wensleydale

Ok here's one out of left field:

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.

Science fiction but not in the ray guns etc etc sort of way.

The Guardian called it "a quietly profound, humane tour de force" and it's a warm read with characters you really care about.

I enjoyed Small Pleasures by Claire Chambers after seeing it recommended on here.
Also Away with the Penguins, by Hazel Prior.
Neither are my usual sort of book.