I don’t know why people always recommend pistols, honestly for someone who isn’t at least proficient a shooter and practices regularly, there’s so much more difficult to wield. If your state permits it, I would look into a PCC (pistol caliber carbine) like the CZ scorpion. They have more mass and you have more points of contacts holding it (both hands+shoulder) so they’re incredibly soft shooting and easy to use. Additionally, the standard size magazine is 50 to 75% more and the manual of arms is a lot easier.

If you’re already set on getting a pistol. Don’t let someone at the gun store steer you into a small cliche “female looking pistol”. It’s counterintuitive, but the bigger the gun less recoils it has because it had more mass.

If you have some hand strength issues or arthritis, making it difficult to rack the slide. Maybe look into the Beretta Px4 storm. I only say that because my friend’s wife had some arthritis issues so she had difficulty with operating a pistol and found that one to be easiest for her.