Not thriller, crime, romance or depressing- but high quality

[challengerequired]

That's the kind of book my dd who's nearly 19 would like to read.
There are obviously the classics. But contemporary? Would be grateful for recommendations- personally I'm more a crime/thriller reader.

Fantasy or real life?

The Lido - Libby Page
Jonathen Livingstone seagull
zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance
Biographies
Bill Bryson travel books

Not fantasy.

thank you for the suggestions @Riverlee !

the Wool trilogy
Pride and prejudice
Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy
Helen Dunmore

The other side of Augusta Hope

The little stranger - Sarah Waters
Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
anything by Martin Amis - Lionel Asbo is a laugh
The Buddha of suburbia
Memoirs of a Geisha
Roddy Doyle’s Barrytown trilogy - the Commitments, the Snapper and the Van

Anything by Frederik Backman. Yes his books deal with grief, but they're also delightfully funny and bittersweet.

Oh @Greatoutdoors i was just about to suggest Sarah Waters . She’s just fabulous. The Night watch is incredible.

Barbara Pym is excellent but I don’t know whether I like it because I’m a bit middle aged…

also Marian Keyes - very easy read but very good.

good luck with the hunt!

A gentleman in Moscow

I really enjoyed Once Upon A River (Diane Setterfield).

Life after Life by Kate Atkinson...I went to school with her, she's brilliant**

Another vote for Life after Life - I completely adored it.

Homegoing

@SueDeNeem a) that’s a great username and b) Kate Atkinson is a great shout!

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Hamnet

I'm into whodunnits big time but:

• the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy - I had quite a bit of a laugh and found them very entertaining (the author has another one unrelated and which is utter crap; don't buy!)
• Sophie Kinsella/Madeleine Wickham - you have to pick and choose though
• Milan Kundera - The Unbearable Lightness of Being
• Sophie's World by Jostein Gaardner - if she's inquisitive and into "existencial questions", otherwise skip.
• Elena Ferrante - My Brilliant Friend
• Kate Walbert - A Short History of Women (this one I haven't read but really want to)
• Michael Moss - Hooked: Food, Free will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions (*haven't read yet)
• Mary Higgins Clark - the ones with Elvira; along the likes of Agatha Christie but I loved them when I was your kid's age:
• Agatha Christie - people do die in them but they're so entertaining)

*suggestions!

I adored Jean Rhys at that age, also Elizabeth Bowen.

Rupert Thomson
Kazuo Ishiguro
Elizabeth Jane Howard, especially the Cazalet Chronicles

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Another vote for A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
Anything written by Kate Atkinson but particularly Behind The Scenes at The Museum

Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Trilogy

The Future Homemakers of America by Laurie Graham.

Recently she's gone further back into history. I always enjoy her books but that one was the first I read and I loved it.

I was going to say Ann Patchett too. I didn’t discover her until well into adulthood but would have loved her at 19/20.
And Barbara Kingsolver. Unsheltered is good, and Prodigal Summer is wonderful.
Maybe Barbara Trapido too.

Lie with me by Sabine Durrant is quite clever. I love all her books but this one is really good.