Great topic, Yoyobon!

Sophie's Choice -- William Styron (1979)

Lonesome Dove -- Larry McMurtry (1985)

A Prayer for Owen Meany -- John Irving (1989)

Off the top of my head

The Greengage Summer - Rumer Godden

The Nun's Story - Kathryn Hulme

and maybe some of the less 'classic' Daphne du Maurier.

I've never read 'Elizabeth and her German Garden'. Is it worth it? I enjoyed the 'April' book.

I'll think of others!

Vee .....Yes ! It was the first book she wrote and I came upon a copy of iit in the basement of an old bookstore. It didn't even have her name on it. It's delightful, as are almost all her other books. Quirky and fun to read.

Green Darkness -- Anya Seton, 1972

China Court -- Rumer Godden, 1960

Hannah Fowler -- Janice Holt Giles, 1956

Down The Garden Path - Beverley Nichols ( 1932 ) this is a charming, chatty delight , the first in a series .

Great Mischief - Josephine Pinckney (1948)

A perfectly creepy little book that unfortunately is out of print. The year is 1895, and much of sleepy little Charleston is still lit by gas. Timothy Partridge operates a rundown apothecary shop, where things have't really changed much since the glory days of Romeo and Juliet; drugs are still hanging from nails on the walls, such as bat wings, hummingbird feathers and strange, fiery potions. Timothy is supporting his shrewish sister Penelope and has a roguish best friend, the drunken doctor Golightly, who is always encouraging Tim to live a little, stop being such a fussbudget, One creepy stormy evening a young woman enters, dashing into the shop in an urgent, insistent plea for some solanum. Tim knows instantly there's something "off" about the girl, but he has no idea that she's actually a witch from hell, who will intertwine herself to his life and change it--forever.

I read the Nichols series, Yoyo, and they were all good.

Your second one does sound creepy. John Dickson Carr wrote one called Fire, Burn that has a witch who keeps coming back. Not surprisingly, she is very afraid of water. I read it one rainy night when I was home alone, and it is one of only a couple over a lifetime of reading that spooked me. The other one was a very realistic vampire story, but I've forgotten the name.

I think Thomas Costain would fit this description, The Silver Chalice, The Black Rose, and Betsey's Napoleon being the ones I enjoyed most when I read them years ago.

I like Rumor Godden, too, especially In This House of Brede.

How about some of Edna Ferber's novels? Saratoga Trunk and Show Boat were my favorites.

Annemarie Selinko's Desirée, a novelized biography of the woman Napoleon jilted, would also make my list. The book was much better than the dreadful movie that was based on it.

"The Historian" by Eliz.Kostova.

"The Secret History" by Donna Tartt.

"House at Tyneford" by Natasha Solomon.

I am another one who is a fan of Rumer Godden. I was going to recommend "A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep" which is autobiographical. Also I liked "Two Under the Indian Sun" by Jon and Rumer Godden.

Yoyo, I live in downtown Charleston. Josephine Humphrey's work is very popular with the long-time residents in our city. True, some of her books are out of print.

Fun thread!

Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry

The Far Pavilions, MM Kaye

Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley

Stars and Bars, William Boyd (very funny!)

Kingdom of Shadows, Barbara Erskine

The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnet (fantastic series for historical fans)

Kaillean, thank you for including The Far Pavilions, which I loved. I considered it but thought it was too recent. Then I realized it was published 40 years ago (how can this be?) so I guess it is old enough!

"In the Shadow of the Wind" - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

"Smilla's Sense of Snow" - Peter Hoag

"The Narrowing Stream" - John Mortimer

"Cider With Rosie" - Laurie Lee

"Lark Rise to Candleford" - Flora Thompson

"Out of Africa" - Isak Dinesen

woodnymph.....Josephne Pinckney......assuming Humphreys was in error

Sorry , yoyo. You are correct. My bad.

I want to add another list of three. These are just a shade below my first three on the good-reads-ometor.

The Prince of Tides -- Pat Conroy (1986)

The Glass Lake -- Maeve Binchy (1999)

The Kite Runner -- Khaled Hosseini (2005)

Anything by Edith Wharton. I think she's a hugely under read and under rated writer.

Actually I tend to think of Edith Wharton's books as being classics. Is this not the general opinion?

I agree that Edith Wharton would be regarded a 'classic' read in the old-fashioned sense . . . as would Henry James, though probably less 'readable'!

I don't know how much older yoyo is thinking of; possibly pre-WWII?

I'll second Yoyo's recommendation for any of the garden books by Beverley Nichols.

Miss Buncle's Book -- D.E. Stevenson (and sequels)

M.M. Kaye's Death In ... books (there are six of them).

Diary of a Provincial Lady -- E.M. Delafield (or perhaps that's a classic?)

The Cazelet Chronicles (The Light Years, Marking Time, Confusion, Casting Off) -- Elizabeth Jane Howard

I remember the Cazelet books. We discussed them at length few years back. I liked them more than loved them, but I learned a great deal on how the UK experienced WWII. I still think about them from time to time.

Vee.......surely a book which was published last century !

Yoyo, I'm only just getting used to the idea that the 'last century' refers to 19-- something!

Yes, we are ' of an age' aren't we !

Egads.

Getting back to the OP:

Girl in Hyacinth Blue - Susan Vreeland

Girl With the Pearl Earring - Tracey Chevalier (about artist Vermeer)

Anything by Gladys Taber, especially the "Stillmeadow" book series.

Assigment In Brittany - Helen MacInnes ( 1942 )

The Enchanted April - Elizabeth VonArnim ( 1922)

The House On The Strand - Daphne DuMaurier (1969)

I'll add all the Mary Stewart books to my list, too :)

"My Cousin Rachel" by Daphne DuMaurier

"The Go-Between" by L.P. Hartley

"Giants in the Earth" by O.E. Rolvaag

I cherish my copy of Thoughts While Tending Sheep, a memoir by Willard Ilefeldt. Sadly out of print, and I believe it is his only published work. If you find this in a used book shop, buy it!

You could put that one in the odd title thread as well, Siobhan.

Siobhan, it's wonderful to see you here again! I looked up Thoughts While Tending Sheep on Amazon, and there are quite a few used copies available if anyone is interested. I ordered a copy for myself on a whim, I'm hoping there are Border Collies in it somewhere :)

https://www.amazon.com/Thoughts-While-Tending-Sheep-Ilefeldt/dp/0517569191/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524485857&sr=8-1&keywords=thoughts+while+tending+sheep&dpID=61bX%252Bvh6rTL&preST=SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40&dpSrc=srch

"The Weight of Water" and "The Pilot's Wife" -- both by Anita Shreve.