I’m bringing back “You Tell Me,” an oldie but goodie blog feature where I ask you, dear reader, for your opinion on Matters of the Day and to settle debates. So what’s the best love story in a book?
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Now then.
Gatsby and Daisy. Tonks and Lupin. Maurice, Clive, and Alec. Zaphod Beeblebrox and… himself.
There are so many memorable relationships in books.
What’s the greatest love story in a book? What’s the best of them all?
And better yet, since we can all learn from the greats, what is it about your favorite love story that resonates so deeply?
Here’s some writing advice that may help you create the next great love story:
Need help with your book? I’m available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and consultations! And if you like this post, check out my guide to writing a novel.
Art: The Garden of Love by Peter Paul Rubens
Claire and Jamie from the Outlander
Jamie and Claire. Outlander. (The books, of course.)
Romeo and Juliet! And yes, I know it’s a play, but published many times in book form. I read it as a teenager and fell in love with Juliet. And yes, I knew she was a fictional character!
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenngger. A girl/woman waits for a man who cannot live without her but neither with her. They will love each other outside of time and beyond reasonable breaches until she is old and he is gone, and nothing, nothing, interrupts their love, not even that they are rarely ever able to live together. Who but the most deeply and devotedly in love would made such sacrifice?
Guess I should have mentioned the names of the lovers: Clare and Henry.
Well, as I’m – ahem – old, romantic love to me seems shallow and fleeting. (The Bachelor, anyone?) I’ve read a story of someone who through a selfless love – a love containing tenderness borne of understanding and compassion – for a people hardly known and who cannot benefit this giver in anyway, the giver undergoes a great trial, the result of which is of great benefit to the lucky receivers. That book is The Bible and the giver is Jesus the Christ.
Wendy. That is Powerful. And oh so true.
Jesus the Christ is the Greatest Lover of all time.
Too bad so many of his followers aren’t.
Wentworth and Anne from Persuasion. Or the love Sidney Carton exudes in A Tale of Two Cities.
Seconding Wentworth and Anne, and adding Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane from Dorothy L. Sayers’ series and Rebecca and Ivanhoe from Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe.
I wouldn’t call anything I’ve read the “greatest” love story, but the story I most enjoy featuring a romance is Rafael Sabatini’s Love at Arms, set during the time of Cesar Borgia. Valentina della Rovere is so determined to avoid an arranged marriage she hires mercenaries to fortify one of her castles in order to withstand her uncle, and the count of Aquila, who already admires her, is so impressed by her defiance he joins up as an unknown soldier to help. He is not a macho, overbearing bully and she is not a wilting damsel in distress. Their love isn’t the main focus of the story, but how it develops against the background of war, treachery and honor is exquisite.
Christ and the Church. From the Bible.
Also, I read a book that was a memoir, a lovely tribute to the love a set of parents had for their daughter, and her returned love for them, by Ruth Sidranski. I recommend it to everyone. Its title–
In Silence: Growing up Hearing in a Deaf World.
An amazing work.
Phedre and Jocelin from Kushiel’s Dart and subsequent books in the series.
There are so many worthy stories. My personal favorite is Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy. The misunderstandings and discovery of their suitability to one another. It’s the journey to the discovery to love I enjoy the best.
I see someone with impeccable taste has already picked this, but here’s a second vote for Clare and Henry from The Time Traveler’s Wife.
*Weeps*