If You Liked Restoring Harmony by Deb Joelle

This is a fun topic. Now I can tell you about a bunch of books I love that inspired me. If you liked Restoring Harmony, might I suggest:

By Nevil Shute (Adult Fiction)

Pied Piper

Trustee From the Tool Room

Round the Bend

By John Rowe Townsend (YA fiction)

The Islanders

Noah’s Castle

Hell’s Edge

By Mary Stewart (Adult Fiction)

The Ivy Tree

By Gennifer Choldenko (Middle Grade Fiction)

Al Capone Does My Shirts

By Jill Paton Walsh (Middle Grade Fiction)

The Dolphin Crossing

By Mary Norton (Middle Grade Fiction)

The Borrowers series

If you’re familiar with these books, you will already know this, but not one of them is a recent release. It’s because I chose books to share with you that influenced me as a writer in general, and in Restoring Harmony in particular. For example, in The Islanders, the main character is called Molly. It’s been twenty years since I read that book, but my husband just read it and pointed this out. I think it was probably coincidence, but who knows? I do know that there is a character in The Borrowers called Spiller who helps the main characters out with things like food. Sound familiar? Yep. I was reading the series while I wrote RH. And while I’d always kind of assumed my need for a romantic undercurrent in RH came from Nevil Shute’s influence, I recently read a Mary Stewart book which reminded me that people in her books are often not who they first appear to be and there’s always a romance. Considering I’ve read all her books, I don’t think it’s any stretch to say that she influenced me as well.

I’ve included both children’s and adult fiction here and so I think there’s something for everyone. If you’ve read any of these books and want to comment, I’d love to hear it. If you plan to read any, please let me know what you think when you’re done. I’ll probably be one of the “past Debs” by then, but I hope you’ll stop by my personal website and tell me what you think.