a few books I recommend

[LakeCondo]

I recommend any & all books by:

Edward Eager [1911-1964] I wish he'd have lived longer to write more.

Dorothy Canfield Fisher [1879-1958] She's remembered for her children's book, Understood Betsy, but she wrote mainly adult books.

I also recommend Peter S Beagle's [best known for The Last Unicorn] A Fine and Private Place.

I'll write a little more later to give more information.

 

[LakeCondo]

Let me start with Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Most people reviewing her books on Amazon say she was ahead of her time. I agree that they seem more modern than most books written in the 1950s, but then we tend to think the past was like the 1950s until suddenly the 1960s happened. The majority of her books were written in the 1920s, when women had gotten the vote & generally had more choices. Written in 1924, The Home-Maker [aka The Home Maker] starts with a fortuitous accident that allowed a couple to blossom doing what they were best at, which they otherwise would not have been able to do.
A darker book is Her Son's Wife. If you ever learn that your beloved only child wants to marry a person you think is unworthy, learn how to cripple her with kindness.

 

[LakeCondo]

Finishing up with DCF, her books have one of these settings:
a faculty family in the Mid-West
village life in New England
France before, during & after WW One.

Edward Eager wrote 7 fantasy books for children. I discovered them while inventorying grade school libraries for my summer job in college & have reread them a number of times since then. The children in the stories are living regular lives until magic comes into their lives, which the adults aren't aware of, or at least don't know that the few strange things they notice are due to magic.
Each book contains at least 4 main characters who are clearly delineated. I get frustrated with books that have numerous children who are virtually indistinguishable. As an adult, I like that the children learn what happens when they try to break the rules of the magic. I recommend reading them in order, as there is some interconnections among them. The first is Half Magic. The 2nd book, Magic By the Lake, is set in the NE corner of Indiana, at a lake close to the one my family had a cottage on, so this was an added bonus.

A Fine and Private Place is set mainly in a cemetery. Not one but two romances take place in it; an older, living couple & a young, dead one. Mr Rebeck lives in an old mausoleum; Mrs Clapper visits her late husband's grave. Michael & Laura wake up dead. Who is in the cemetery at the end?
This book was published when Peter S Beagle was only 19. After The Last Unicorn, I haven't really cared for his books. But 2 good ones isn't bad.