Queen Camilla’s book recommendations as The Queen’s Reading Room urges people “Make Room for Reading”

It’s a momentous year for The Queen’s Reading Room as it celebrates its fifth anniversary. Founded by Queen Camilla during lockdown, on Thursday (January 8) Her Majesty spoke of the pride she has in the charity’s achievements, including reaching a community of more than 186,000 book lovers in more than 180 countries.

Camilla said: “Five years ago, I founded a book club in lockdown, in the hope that others might derive as much enjoyment from good literature as I do. Since those humble beginnings, that book club has grown into a global charity, supporting a community of book lovers, united by a shared belief in the power of reading.

“I am so proud of what my charity has achieved, reaching millions of people, staging remarkable events and partnering with incredible organisations to bring books to people who need them most.”

Currently, only one in two UK adults reads a book in a year, and 46% of people say they struggle to finish one due to distractions around them. The Queen’s Reading Room’s motto for its birthday year is “Make Room for Reading”, with a drive to encourage people to find easy ways to fit in just five minutes of reading a day, just like 10,000 daily steps or five portions of fruit and vegetables.

Neuroscience research by the organisation showed that just five minutes reading a work of fiction can immediately reduce stress by nearly 20%, improve concentration and focus by as much as 11%, and reduce feelings of loneliness.

The King’s consort warned that, with global reading rates at their “very lowest” the charity’s mission feels “more urgent than ever”. Camilla said: “Its groundbreaking research has confirmed what many of us always felt: reading truly changes how we perceive, how we think and how we connect. At a time when global reading rates are at their very lowest, my charity’s mission feels more urgent than ever. Books do make life better, and this is only the beginning.”

The book club became The Queen’s Reading Room charity in 2023 and has gone on to host an annual literary festival, launch a podcast and introduce The Queen’s Reading Room Medal to celebrate unsung local heroes who champion reading, with the first recipient due to be unveiled in the spring. The charity has also donated more than 2,300 books to 11 grassroots locations, including 1,400 to inpatients at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, as well as supporting reading groups at St Mungo’s homeless shelters and working with domestic violence refuges.

Queen Camilla’s book recommendations

The book project started life when Camilla shared a list of nine of her favourite books which she called her "dearest 'friends'" which she previously said had been “literally scribbled on a piece of paper during the first lockdown” in 2020. She wanted to share the list to provide comfort and escapism during the COVID-19 lockdown. The list eventually led to the creation of The Queen's Reading Room book club, and here they are…

• Restless by William Boyd: A wartime thriller about a resourceful woman recruited for the British Secret Service, which Camilla called "a great read".
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens: A classic story of love set during the French Revolution, which Camilla described as one of Dickens's best works.
• The Simon Serrailler series by Susan Hill: A crime novel series set in the idyllic fictional cathedral town of Lafferton with a very English detective, Chief Superintendent Serrailler, taking the lead.
• The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman: The second book in The Book of Dust trilogy, praised by Camilla as "storytelling at its best".
• The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard: A multi-generational saga of a British family before, during, and after World War II. Camilla said that if she were sent to a desert island with one book, this series of five would be her choice.
• A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles: A Russian aristocrat is put under indefinite house arrest in a hotel in post-revolution Moscow and while there, questions what really makes us who we are.
• The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain: A "clever, funny novel" and a "masterpiece of Parisian perfection".
• The Architect's Apprentice by Elif Shafak: A "magical, colourful tale" set during the height of the Ottoman Empire.
• Travels on my Elephant by Mark Shand: A book by Camilla’s late brother about his journey across India with an Asian elephant named Tara, a story that "always brings a tear" to her eye.

The Queen has personally recommended 76 books over the past five years, with the initiative beginning with Dame Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror And The Light, William Boyd’s Restless, Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shafak.

Among Camilla’s most popular recommendations with the book club’s readers so far have been: Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz; Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell; Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo; Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier; and Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice, the charity revealed.