If you like Helen Forrester?

[TheMoonstone]

I remember reading her over and over when I was younger, I also read Lena Kennedy at the same time.
A couple of years ago I enjoyed Emma Donoghue’s Pull Of The Stars and it reminded me of Helen Forrester - but I read it simply because I read all of hers, not because it was that particular style. Any ideas?

(I feel rather out of touch with modern authors as live so far away from any bookshop now sadly.)

She wrote Twopence to Cross the Mersey didn't she? I loved her books when I was younger and like you reread them multiple times. Trying to think what I've read that is similar, Catherine Cookson covers some of the same themes but is not exactly a new writer! What about some of Pat Barker's early novels about women in the NE?

That's a good shout about Pat Barker's early works @JaninaDuszejko

I loved Helen Forrester too. Her son’s book ‘ Passage across the Mersey’ was interesting in telling what happened after her childhood and young adulthood.

Maybe early Kate Atkinson - Behind the Scenes at the Museum? Or the Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard?

I also really like Lilian Harry's books as comfort reads, the April Grove and Burracombe series. Helen Forrester isnt exactly comfort reading but I get something the same from them.

Try Mary Wesley’s books - The Camomile Lawn, Not that sort of Girl etc.

I had totally forgotten about Helen Forrester and Lena Kennedy, read loads of them in my late teens and early 20's. Might be time to revisit them now a quarter century has passed!

Similar authors I remember reading in those days were Iris Gower, Josephine Cox and Madeleine Brent (brilliant books but hard to find)

Not the same in terms of content, but Maeve Binchy's books have a similar feeling for me.

I read her when I was young too and still re-read her now. Liverpool Daisy is my favourite and a bit of a comfort read, then 3 women of Liverpool I think. Don't really rate Maeve Binchy, always got the same know it all type of character in. I read all sorts now, have got Amazon kindle unlimited and subscriptions to a couple of recommended reading daily emails. One is bookbub where you can select your preferences and it emails you titles on Amazon usually on unlimited or for 99p. On Amazon you can also read a sample on kindle which is good for getting an idea without buying it.

Shoes are for Sundays is a similar book set in Glasgow.

Thanks everyone, looks like I’ve lots of new books to read now woohoo!

This thread is lethal. I didn't know that book existed. I've just ordered the Kindle version. I loved Helen Forrester in my youth.

Maureen Lee's books are very similar to Helen Forrester.

Non-fiction rather than fiction, but I think Beezy Marsh writes books that have a very similar vibe to Helen Forrester. London rather than Liverpool.

@Octopus45 it’s lethal on my purse, why did I start it! 😆