Tallulah Bates '25
St. Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! That’s right, the day is filled with homemade cards, stuffed teddies, and eating so much chocolate that you feel violently ill before the short hand strikes midnight. All that sappy goodness. Whatever your romantic status may be – loving it up, something of a situationship, or simply pining for that one barista that you're sure smiles differently at you –the hottest date you can get this winter is a cosy cup of tea alongside a lovey-dovey romance novel.
There are obvious choices, such as curling up to Emily Brontë or F. Scott Fitzgerald. Surely these are the most romantic authors of all time? While that may be true, here is a beautiful collection of other literature guaranteed to coax those crazy stupid feelings out of even the coldest heart:
Normal People, Sally Rooney
Yes, a classic. Yes, it's talked about constantly. And yes, it will be talked about again. The story takes place in the rural yet most romantic Sligo, Ireland and follows Marianne and Connell as they fall in and out of love and traverse unstable grounds as young adults. At school, Connell and Marianne live blissfully separate lives; he’s popular and socially adept – albeit a tad shy –while she is a proud loner, intensely private. But when they can no longer deny the implications of their strange and indelible connection, they are forced to reconcile with their mutual attraction and how it interferes with their own lives. When asked about this brilliant novel, Myla ‘23 is quoted saying that it “made [her] happy” and that she thought it was very “cutting edge.” Author Sally Rooney shines through her psychological acuity and realistic prose in a story that explores the electrifying complications of a first love.
The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
This enchanting novel centres around the peculiar life of Henry DeTamble, a handsome librarian trapped under the mighty spell of time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose ordinary life soon takes an unforeseeable turn. Henry and Clare's passionate affair endures over the years, where time itself seizes the two lovers in an impossibly romantic net. Audrey Niffenegger's dazzling storytelling allows the novel's seemingly unconventional chronology to be vibrantly triumphant.
The Course of Love, Alain de Botton
Many novels cover the excitement of the early days of love… but what about the events following your “happily ever after”? The Course of Love details what happens after the birth of love, what it takes to maintain a healthy relationship, and how one’s personal ideals mould and challenge under the pressures of an everyday existence. In Edinburgh, Rabih and Kirsten watch their lives follow what seems to be a perfect fairytale: they fall in love, they marry, then they have children; but no relationship is ever as simple as just that. Alongside these two characters, readers experience the philosophies of married life. Fresh and visceral, The Course of Love is a provocative and affirming novel for everyone who believes in the delicate power of love.
You Made A Fool of Death With Your Beauty, Akwaeke Emezi
Widows are a staple in romance literature, and yet rarely is the experience of losing one’s spouse explored in such brutal depth as in this tale of Feyi, a star-crossed young widow who falls for her new partner’s famous father. Indeed, this book is fabulously messy at the start, but, like its heroine, it lights up in the most spectacular way when Alim enters; a queer and dangerously charismatic chef who is also all too familiar with loss, and who is just as foolishly and impossibly enraptured by Feyi as she becomes to him.
The Book of Everlasting Things, Aanchal Malhotra
On a crisp January morning in 1938, Samir Vij locked eyes with Firdaus Khan for the very first time. In the months that follow, the two apprentices fall in love over the rows of bottles of perfumes, spices and carpets in the bustle of Lahore. But, as the struggle for Indian independence grows to a violent level, their beloved city is ravaged by Partition. Samir, a Hindu, and Firdaus, soon find themselves on opposing sides of the war; their love now forbidden. Rich and emotional, The Book of Everlasting Things illustrates the story of two lovers and two nations, split apart by forces beyond their control, yet forever bound together by love and memory. Aanchal Malhotra’s debut novel is a delicacy for the romantic soul.
The Hating Game, Sally Thorne
Sally Thorne’s witty prose shines in what is now a major motion picture: The Hating Game. Vengeful colleagues Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate one another; Lucy doesn’t understand Joshua’s joyless and uptight approach to his job, while Joshua is clearly baffled by Lucy’s bright clothes, quirkiness, and sunshine attitude. When fate puts them up for the same promotion, their professional competition comes to a head as both refuse to back down… But the tension between Lucy and Joshua has also reached its boiling point; together they could discover that maybe they don’t hate each other. Or maybe this is just another game that one of them will win.
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