Is Rosamunde Pilcher aimed at a particular age group or demographic ?

[Everyonesliverlovesparvo]

Listening to one of her audiobooks ‘Winter Solstice’. Really enjoying it as a nice relaxing listen but probably only a 1/4 of the way through.
I’m mid 50s but it seems to be written in a quaint style more for folk a bit older than me. Almost twee but that’s probably not the right word to be honest and I’m wondering whether it’s the reader’s diction rather than the actual book. Normally I read/listen to psychological thrillers by authors like Lisa Jewell, Louise Candlish and Sophie Hannah so very much less cosy and far more gritty ! I guess it’s essentially the trials and tribulations of stinking rich folk, gentile types fallen on hard times and the working class salt of the earth. Are all her books like this ?

I think her books are timeless. I particularly liked The Shellseekers, and have read it a few times on holiday.

Yes they are. Regularly run on the public channel 2 Sunday night prime time. All shot with German actors which makes them rather excruciating to watch but always gorgeous scenery.

I love Rosamunde Pilcher books - so cosy and welcoming. If I want gritty reality I can just watch the news!
I think I’d like a more twee life - living in a cottage wearing Seasalt and baking using fruit I’ve gathered from the hedgerows!

I read her books in my thirties and loved them (a long time ago). Lovely comforting escape from everyday tedium.

I was just going to say this - the timeline is terrible!

It also included a long stay in Cornwall during which she became part of the furniture in her cousin’s house so there really were just a few weeks during which he recovered from the death of his wife and child, and shacked up with a new woman.

Another View is an incredibly Seasalt book. I hadn't connected the two before, but it really is!

Also love The End of Summer!

I think I need to re-buy some of her books - I used to have loads but got rid of them over various house moves.
I can’t get on with audio books - downloaded a Maeve Binchy recently and the voice the narrator puts on for the child parts is like cutlery screeching on a plate!

Thank goodness it’s not just me!

Agree, although I do love Winter Solstice I do have to not think about the timeline too much. I'm kind of like that with the whole book, I know its nonsense but when I want an easy read I really enjoy it, I think she sets scenes really well, I can imagine the houses and places and they are places I'd like to be.

Yes, Winter Soltice was written almost a quarter of a century ago, but the world it's set in is more like the 1950s or 60s.

It's a while since I read it, but I seem to remember some of the characters being confused by these new-fangled things called computers, or some such.

And the treatment of the young teenage girl... basically too much bother for her mother and grandmother (I think, again, it's been a while) and the only thing for it is for her to go to Scotland to be with relatives she doesn't know.

I'm in my early 40s and love RP books. Coming home and Shell Seekers are my favourites. Comfy and cosy books. I read Winter Solstice at Xmas time and the others in the summer. September is sometimes read in September but I'm not overly keen on it.

I re read Coming Home every year during my Cornwall holiday.
I haven’t read Winter Solstice for years , I suppose as it’s set in the more recent past it seems more dated, if that makes sense!
I love the descriptions of the houses in Coming Home, especially the Dower House .

Count how many times she uses the words ‘scrubbed table’ in every book. Once I noticed it irritated me a lot, and ‘from time to time’, too.

@ValuableLimeLesson I love Betty Neels too! (as well as Rosamund Pilcher). Have you seen the blog, The Uncrushable Jersey Dress? It's not been updated for years but is a real homage by true fans!

@SquirrelFan YES! I love that blog! It's my go-to Betty resource! I don't necessarily agree with all their takes on Bettydom, but I love their reviews. I also tried Essie Summers because of them!

I think it may be the particular audiobook reader for that one, OP. I was so disappointed by the sample on the Audible website. Coming Home has a much better reader.

I knew RP's niece many years ago. The niece was lovely (would now be in her late 50s) and pretty posh: the "did a season as chalet girl and worked as a nanny to other posh people before getting married" type, and RP was the slightly elderly and much beloved aunt. Rather the way Raymond West regards Miss Marple in some of the later Agatha Christie books!

I tried reading The Shellseekers when on holiday in Cornwall and gave up. Found it all rather dated and clichéd.

Always amazed that so many people love it.

I'm reading Day of the Storm, absolutely love it

It has such a lovely nostalgic feel of the early 70s

Even though Winter Solstice was written in 2000 it has a very, very 1950s vibe to it. There's a lot of emphasis placed on personal faith/religion, and the angst over having sex when you're not actually married (like, really?). The 20 year old son of the vicar, who has a creepy interest in the 14 year old girl. Er, grooming, hello? The inference that al women really need to be content is to marry young, push out babies and cook lovely meals in the Aga.

And, yes hated that the male protagonist loses his wife and young daughter at the end of the Summer. And that by Christmas he's completely recovered and happily re-marries.

Shit. Idly searched Mumsnet for Rosamunde Pilcher, to see what people think of her, as have just started Winter Solstice.
That is one hell of a spoiler.

It was published nearly 24 years ago 😊 I’ve ruined books for myself before by googling too.

DM used to love Rosamunde Pilcher books and was probably the target audience at the time. Lower middle class, Radio 4 listener, a child during the war and dedicated to church and the WI.
She’d be 92 now.

I was bemused by the way RP made the bereaved husband’s wife an alcoholic who drunk-drove and got herself killed, so it seemed more okay when he started nobbing her friend more or less at the wake.

Well, it's a chance you take when you search on books/authors/TV threads.

I read the Shellseekers and Coming home maybe 25 years ago and remember really enjoying them, then read Winter Solstice a few years ago after a thread on here and found it too twee and unbelievable, maybe my tastes have changed. I did pick up the Shellseekers for 99p on Kindle a while ago and am going to try it again to see if I still enjoy that one.