“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: you should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody” (Thessalonians 4: 11-12)

Rachel Bearn sort of got forced to live a quiet life, because of illness and circumstances beyond her control. She tells her story and how she learned to cope with her ME/CFS both as part of the introduction and throughout the book. Rachel’s slowness was, perhaps, thrust upon her as a result of circumstances beyond her control, but she certainly seems to have mined the results for wisdom since, and to have applied many aspects of slow living of necessity that others adopt voluntarily and often in later life.

Rachel’s faith is important in that. She writes “This simpler, calmer way of life helped me to manage my illness; to calm my nervous system and focus my day son the present moment. It helped to remind me what was important: God and his plans. And trusting him always.”

The book has no illustrations or photographs, but it is only 188 pages long so it’s not an arduous read. There are five simple sections: Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn and the Festive Season, so it basically takes you through the year from January to December.

Each season contains a couple of chapters on the how or why of slow living, for example, Winter has a chapter on why to slow down and another on why we should embrace handmade items (because we are created in God’s image, and He is the Great Creator). Spring focuses on gardening and clothes, while Summer’s chapters are Nature and Entertainment as a source of community enjoyment. Food and Home complete the cycle in Autumn. The chapters are practical, include lists or ideas of things to do, and relate everything back to the Bible, through a well-chosen verse or linking it to a Biblical principle, like Sabbath. If I have any complaint, it is that the chapters are (of necessity) short. I love Rachel’s chapter on Home, but I’d love to read her whole book on creating a Christian home, a place of hospitality, hygge and hope. I think I’d like that. I hope this won’t be her one and only book…

The seasons also contain short chapters on Seasonal Celebrations at the appropriate times. Winter’s is Epiphany, Autumn’s Harvest. Again, the chapters are short, because of space, but each one contains a bible reading or verse, a short history of the celebration, how it is important to a Christian and often why it’s special to Rachel. You won’t find every festival of the Church here (summer, for example, contains no festival when, perhaps, Pentecost or an explanation of Ordinary Time could have been included) but you will find the significant festivals that we celebrate at home and church here.

Advent and Christmas get a bare 15 pages between them, pages which are full of good advice on simplifying what must be the most commercialised season of all, and I do think there’s space for expansion here. Go on, Rachel, what’s your favourite Christmas biscuit recipe? But, again, I’m hoping Rachel has a book up her sleeve that could do Slow Christmas in better detail, with recipes and more ideas for families and friends to enjoy a simple celebration together. Her ideas for Advent calendars are good, and the advice is a starting point.

It’s good when my big complaint about a book is just that I wanted more. I follow Rachel on Instagram and she has a regular newsletter about slow living and a Youtube channel. She comes from the Wirral, not far from me, but lives in Worcestershire now. Shame. If she lived nearby, I’d love to have a cuppa with her and share slow living joys and despairs with her. Kudos to Rachel for being able to grow stuff, though. My garden is gradually going Zen precisely because flowers and I have a hate/hate relationship.

The blurb on the back is rather beautifully put: “When we turn away from the loud distractions of the consumer-driven world, we feel the gentle pull towards slowing down…. this is not a call to monk-like simplicity, but rather an invitation to enjoy life’s beautiful, natural and sustaining gifts by growing, making or mending rather than ordering with next-day delivery” The book is not a comprehensive manual on how to live a simple life, so much as a prompt to remember ways of living that we once knew, and have forgotten. I like how Rachel’s life is so tied up with the need to live slowly, how her faith shapes the processes she adopted and how honest she is sometimes about what she can and cannot do. Hats off, girl. I’m not sure I could have pushed through the pain and fatigue to complete a book. It’s not a heavy book, weight-wise or contents, and that’s good. Earnest tomes are all very well, but weigh heavy on arthritic wrists. It’s written simply, honestly and with grace. I really enjoyed it, and will mull over the ideas and suggestions for inclusion in life generally.

How to Hygge the British Way is my gift to the world. I don’t get paid for writing it, I’m not in it for the kudos, financial rewards, to become an influencer, work with brands or otherwise make any money from the blog. That’s why there are no ads, and any products I mention and recommend have either been gifted to me or bought by me with my everyday wages or donations from supporters. Every book I review has been bought and read by me, unless stated otherwise.

I do get a couple of pennies each time someone buys from the Amazon links on my page, as an Amazon Affiliate, but otherwise if you’d like to support me, I like to give something back in return. That’s why I write books. It always feels good if you get a book back in return for some money. You can find a full list of my books at my Author’s Page on Amazon, but especially recommended for this time of year are my Christmas books:

 Have Yourself a Happy Hygge Christmas is a good place to start, on how to make the season cosier, happier and more personal. Using the principles of hygge (simplicity, handmade, home-based) it aims to encourage you to craft a Christmas rather than dive into the Same Old Same Old without a thought. September and October is a good time to reconsider teh celebration before racing into December and the season of overconsumption hits.

 Enjoying a Self-Care Christmas may be a faster and easier read. It has short lists of ways to cut Christmas preparation to the bones, along with a kind of advent calendar of simple, free and easy self-care activities to remind you that taking time out for yourself is no bad thing. It is only available as an e-book.

My non-Christmas books are also available, of course:

Cosy Happy Hygge: Setting up a rhythm to life and rituals to enjoy it to make for a more balanced life that handles waves and storms better. The book has small and easy ways to make your life flow with grace and happiness, which lead to more hygge.

Happier: Probably my most personal book, it’s the story of how I used hygge and the little things in life to help boost my happiness. I still go back and reread to remind myself what I need to do to be a happy human. And it’s always the little things.

I’m currently working on two book projects: I have a hankering to rewrite 50 Ways to Hygge the British Way, so it’s not available at the moment, but even dearer to my heart and my next stated aim is to finish and publish my next book, Simple Plus Cosy = Hygge. It will be about homemaking and how the home we create shapes the hygge we have. Hopefully it will be finished by the end of Winter 2026.

If you’d like to support me, but don’t want to buy a book, I have a Paypal.Me account as Hygge Jem. Every little helps, so even a few pence goes towards the books, goods and courses I use and recommend on the site. I’m grateful for every little bit that brings me closer to my dream of full-time writing, and I know I couldn’t still be writing if it weren’t for the support of many readers and friends out there. Thank you all for every little bit of support, emotional, physical and financial, you give me.

If you’ve enjoyed this article, don’t forget to share it or save it so others can enjoy reading, thinking about and living hygge as well.

The photo between post and promotions is from my camera roll, a bench in my local park one weekend. I love the autumnal feel, the wet path and the couple of stray leaves resting on the seat before their inevitable plunge to the floor.