On June 19, the romantic comedy Material Girl (18+) was released, directed by young filmmaker Céline Son, whose previous film Past Lives was nominated for an Oscar. The film was released by A24, a company that has only been around for 12 years but has already earned a reputation as a leading independent film company with fans all over the world. Interest in the film is heightened by its cast: Dakota Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey), Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones, The Mandalorian, Gladiator II), and Chris Evans (The Avengers).
- Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones’s Diary, 16
Does a romantic novel always have to feature a young beauty without any flaws? Helen Fielding refutes this fact and writes a novel about an ordinary woman that wins the hearts of readers around the world. This is followed by the famous film adaptation starring Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, and Colin Firth.
The success lies in the vitality of the story and its light humor: Bridget Jones is a single woman in her 30s who struggles with excess weight, bad habits, and self-doubt. She is also very tired of the question, “When are you getting married?” Many people recognize at least one detail of her character in themselves. After all, none of us are perfect, but we all have the right to happiness.
The main character keeps a diary where she writes down all the details of her life. When a man finally appears in Bridget’s life—her boss, the handsome publisher Daniel Cleaver—she is incredibly happy. But as soon as she encounters family and financial problems, he instantly loses interest in her and even plans to marry someone else. Another man comes to her rescue in this difficult situation — the slightly boring lawyer Mark Darcy, who wears ridiculous sweaters. Will Bridget be able to fall in love with him?
The novel was inspired by another classic work about love, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice from the early 19th century, and in 1998 it received the Best Book of the Year award in its home country of Great Britain.
- Jojo Moyes, Me Before You, 16
Another book on our list that has been made into a film, this time starring Emilia Clarke.
Cheerful, charming, sincere, and just a little bit simple — this is how the heroine Louisa Clark (yes, she has the same surname as the actress who later played her in the film) appears. Louisa lives in a small town, has a simple job in a bakery, a boyfriend (although their relationship is somewhat indifferent), and no dreams or ambitions. Louisa has to help her family financially, so when her bakery closes, she finds a job as a caregiver — after all, it pays well.
Will Traynor is a young, handsome, rich, well-educated, and slightly cynical man who has completely lost interest in life. All because, as a result of an accident, he is permanently confined to a wheelchair. While Louise has no dreams and no understanding of what she wants from life, Will has that understanding and the money to achieve it, but he will never be able to do so.
This is a novel about how two dissimilar people meet to change (or not?) each other’s destinies.
- Beth O’Leary, “The Flatshare” 16+
The epistolary novel dates back to the 17th century and, in its classic form, consists of correspondence between characters that reflects their emotional experiences and inner evolution. Well-known examples of this genre include Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Julie, or the New Heloise, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ Dangerous Liaisons, and Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky’s Poor Folk.
Works in this genre are mainly about romantic relationships. So why not try using correspondence between modern characters? This is what the author of the novel “Apartment for Two” does. But the characters do not correspond via email, instant messaging, or social media, but rather using… paper stickers. They live in the same apartment, but they don’t know each other!
Due to financial and personal problems, Tiffy urgently needs an inexpensive rental apartment. She finds one, but it can only be occupied at night, as during the day it is occupied by the owner, a guy named Leon, who works at a hospice at night.
Tiffy and Leon begin corresponding via sticky notes, which gradually develops into something more.
The novel “The Apartment for Two” has also been adapted into a television series.
- Evie Dunmore, My Favorite Duke, 18
A duke and the poor daughter of a country priest — seemingly unremarkable characters in a formulaic romance novel. But that’s not the case! This novel is more complex than it seems at first glance.
Yes, feelings do arise between Him — a rich, cold, and calculating duke, close to the people who rule Britain — and Her — a modest, disadvantaged girl. And, of course, he cannot marry a girl of a lower class than himself. Or can he?
The main character, Annabel, differs from similar characters in other novels in that she is a suffragette — a participant in the movement to grant women the right to vote. Annabelle Archer earned a place in the first intake of female students at Oxford University, and in exchange for her scholarship, she must support the growing movement for women’s suffrage. That’s how she met the duke: she gave him a leaflet, and he couldn’t forget her gaze.
- Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind; Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds 16+
The romance novel genre is quite broad and has many subgenres: fantasy (think Twilight), historical fiction, science fiction, and others. Its roots go far back into the past: to the songs of troubadours, pastoral novels of the 18th century, and the works of Samuel Richardson and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, which Pushkin’s Tatyana read avidly. So, a large body of literature can be indirectly attributed to the romance novel, where the central theme is, of course, love — destructive and creative.
Margaret Mitchell wrote only one novel, but what a novel it was! In Gone with the Wind, Scarlett O’Hara, the spoiled daughter of a wealthy planter, loses almost everything after the start of the Civil War in the United States, and even her beloved, despite their mutual feelings, marries another woman. Against the backdrop of war and crumbling values, Scarlett tries to build her own happiness.
The Thorn Birds is a lifelong love story that made its author, Australian writer Colleen McCullough, famous. The plot of the book spans half a century and takes place in Australia. The main characters, Maggie and Father Ralph de Bricassart, love each other but cannot be together because the status of a Catholic priest requires a vow of celibacy. Maggie and Ralph carry their love through the years.