What can I read that has a nostalgic feel to it?!

[Nows]

I'm feeling the need to escape from modern life! What can I read that has similar vibes to The Diary of a Provincial Lady, Nella Last's War, The Cazalet Chronicles, Agatha Christie etc? I've read quite a few of the Persephone books too but can't remember titles!

Very grateful for any and all suggestions. Thank you :)

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher is both nostalgic and Christmassy. I read it every December.

A Month in the Country by J L Carr is the perfect book for your needs.

Thank you so much for all the suggestions - lots of things to look into.

I came to recommend the Lost Art of Keeping Secrets. It's one of my favourite books to lose myself in. The description of clothes and a very specific time to be a teenager in England is just so evocative.

Cold Comfort Farm? Nostalgic and warm but sharp and witty as well.

I love the film version with Kate Beckinsale too.

Maeve Binchy
Nora Roberts series eg Three Sisters island trilogy
Ngaio March mysteries
James Herriot books
Ruth Jones: love untold
Laura Pearson: the last list of Mabel Beaumont
The library of lost and found
The lost bookshop

To me the most nostalgic book in existence is Persuasion.

Also another vote for The Pursuit of Love.

And I think Bleak House... it's somehow really comforting.

Yy to James Herriot and Miss Read.

High Wages by Dorothy Whipple is great; takes you back to the days when every town had an old-fashioned drapers shop.

Another vote for the Miss Read books! And I have literally just reread The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. How about some of the Mary Wesley books, such as The Chamomile Lawn etc?

You need Wodehouse.

Also Mrs Harris Goes to Paris is one of my all-time favourite nostalgia reads.

For real sentimental nostalgic schmaltz there’s always Fanny Flagg

Agree with all of these but also - given your user name - perhaps we might mention Anne of Green Gables and indeed any of the LM Montgomery books?!

Try Lillian Beckwith, ‘The Hills is Lonely’ series. I read them 50-odd years ago and found them very gentle and amusing books. I hope the language and attitudes have stood the test of time!

Also The Camomile Lawn is on isounds as an audiobook at the moment; read ages ago by Sian Phillips. It’s good!

Following.

Another vote for Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers. Set in the 50s and a lovely gentle poignant read

Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

I Capture the Castle
The Greengage Summer
No More Meadows

I assume if you like Agatha Christie you also like Sherlock Holmes books too. There are some good new books with the character from James Lovegrove which definitely have a nostalgic feel.

I Capture The Castle is beautiful and ticks your boxes. Also Rebecca.

Loads of great suggestions here. Particularly A Month in the Country, I Capture the Castle, Miss Pettigrew, Wodehouse, Herriot and Christie.

I'd add in The Old Man's Birthday by Richmal Crompton. She wrote the Just William books and doesn't seem that well known for her adult fiction, but it's wonderful. I hardly ever see her recommended on here so it's lovely to see @Millybob suggesting her.

Love Nina by Nina Stibbe is laugh out loud funny but also so nostalgic for the eighties and nineties. It is a cosy and funny read.

I've just bought A Month in the Country and The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets thanks to this thread, cheers!

I’ve just read The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. Set in the 1930s. I loved it, great uplifting book.