Love & Passion

1

Giovanni's Room

Toni Morrison

An American in Paris falls into a passionate relationship with an Italian barman, Giovanni, while his American fiancée is traveling in Spain. Baldwin's second novel was groundbreaking in its frank portrayal of homosexual desire.

United States 1956

2

Jane Eyre

Emily Brontë

Orphan Jane Eyre works as a governess at Thornfield Hall, falls in love with its brooding owner Mr. Rochester, and discovers his terrible secret. Charlotte Brontë's debut novel was a landmark in the development of the literary protagonist with an inner life.

United Kingdom 1847

3

Death in Venice

Thomas Mann

A celebrated German writer travels to Venice for rest and becomes obsessed with the beauty of a Polish boy, Tadzio, even as cholera sweeps through the city. One of the most formally perfect novellas in German literature.

Germany 1912

4

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Milan Kundera

Two couples in Prague before and after the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion navigate love, freedom, betrayal, and the weight of political circumstances. Kundera's most internationally celebrated novel, exploring Nietzsche's concept of eternal recurrence.

Czech Republic 1984

5

Love in the Time of Cholera

Gabriel García Márquez

Florentino Ariza waits fifty-one years, nine months, and four days for Fermina Daza to be widowed so he can renew his declaration of love. García Márquez's most romantic novel, set in an unnamed Caribbean port city.

Colombia 1985

6

Wuthering Heights

Emily Brontë

The foundling Heathcliff's consuming passion for Cathy and his vengeance on those who separated them spans two generations in the wild Yorkshire moors. Emily Brontë's only novel is considered a unique achievement in English Romantic fiction.

United Kingdom 1847

7

Sense and Sensibility

Jane Austen

Two sisters — the impulsive Marianne and the reserved Elinor — both suffer romantic disappointment and must find their way in a world where women's security depends entirely on marriage. Austen's first published novel.

United Kingdom 1811

8

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen

The witty Elizabeth Bennet navigates society's expectations of marriage while sparring with the proud Mr. Darcy. Austen's most popular novel combines romantic comedy with sharp social satire of rural English life.

United Kingdom 1813

9

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

Victor Hugo

In 15th-century Paris, the deformed bell-ringer Quasimodo falls in love with the gypsy dancer Esmeralda, who is pursued by the corrupt archdeacon Frollo. Hugo used the novel partly to draw attention to the neglect of Gothic architecture.

France 1831

10

Madame Bovary

Gustave Flaubert

A provincial doctor's wife, bored with her dull marriage, pursues romantic fantasies through adultery and extravagant spending, spiralling toward ruin. Flaubert was tried for obscenity upon publication; the novel is now seen as the masterpiece of literary realism.

France 1857

11

Anna Karenina

Leo Tolstoy

A married aristocrat's passionate affair with Count Vronsky unfolds against the backdrop of Russian high society, while a parallel plot follows Levin's search for meaning in rural life. Tolstoy considered it his first true novel.

Russia 1878