Sally Rooney has been circulating the book charts recently, due to the release of her novel, Intermezzo. Amid all the hype, I couldn’t forget Rooney’s most notable book, Normal People. With over one million copies sold in the UK and a hit TV series starring Daisy Edgar-Jones & Paul Mescal, it’s undoubtable that Rooney’s 2018 novel is adored by many.
Packed into its pages are all the makings of a gritty romance, which has readers going wild. We see friends to lovers, constant miscommunication, class differences, secret relationships, and more. I’m sure the novel would be half the size if Connell and Marianne actually talked to each other about their feelings…
If you’re missing a Normal People shaped hole in your heart, here’s a list of novels that may just be the fix you’re looking for.
Talking at Night, Claire Daverley
I picked this book up in Waterstones during the summer because it was in the ‘buy one get one half price’ deal. I started reading it on a dreary Sunday afternoon, unsure if I’d like it very much, but was proven wrong, and ended up devouring this novel from cover to cover within a matter of hours.
Talking at Night follows the lives of Will and Rosie. They meet as teenagers, crowded around a bonfire, and begin talking until everyone else melts away. Despite an immediate bond, it seems like a one-time chance meeting, given their differing personalities. Rosie is rule-following, anxious, and struggling with OCD, while Will is popular, wild, and has a reputation as a player. However, Will begins tutoring Rosie’s twin brother Josh, and when a snowstorm traps Will in Rosie and Josh’s house, they slide back into an unashamed, flirty rhythm. The undeniable connection between them consumes both characters, but Rosie insists on keeping their budding relationship a secret, especially from Josh and her disapproving mother.
Yet, when tragedy strikes, Rosie and Will are plunged into grief, and their relationship falls to the wayside. Over the years that follow, they continuously find each other, only to be ripped apart again. This is a story of friendship, electric love, and finding comfort within yourself.
The miscommunication between the characters will have you shouting in anguish, and has meant that the book is often compared to Normal People, although I think Talking at Night is better!
Milk Teeth, Jessica Andrews
This compelling novel follows an unnamed woman throughout her life, growing up working-class in Bishop Auckland, living in London during her twenties, and following her lover to Barcelona. It features relationships, not only the romantic kind, but familial bonds, friendships, and the protagonist’s relationship with herself and her body.
Throughout the book, the woman creates an absence within herself, as a way of staying in control of the absences in her life. In the chapters focussing on the woman’s childhood, we learn that despite her father rarely being present in her life, due to his alcoholism, she is desperate to impress him. He eventually leaves the girl and her mother for good, sending them spiralling into a new life.
When she meets a boy in a Peckham basement, they enter a consuming whirlwind of dating, which catches the woman off-guard, “I have been self-contained for a long time / but now you are in me and just like that, you hold the soft, wet muscle of my exposed heart in your hand”. However, when the boy is offered a research job in Barcelona, the challenges that come with this adjustment are make or break for their blossoming relationship.
Milk Teeth is a tale of love and recovery. Andrews’ writing is beautifully raw and sultry, pulling the reader urgently along the pages of the novel, willing the woman to find herself, after being adrift for so many years. Although short in length, this novel packs a punch, and is the type that can be read over and over, especially if you’re feeling lost in yourself. I have (and will continue to) come back to this novel whilst navigating my twenties.
Book Lovers, Emily Henry
As the title suggests, this novel focuses on two book lovers. Nora Stephens and Charlie Lastra work in the literary world of New York City. Nora is an organised, merciless agent, and immediately clashes with uptight, pretentious editor, Charlie. They meet towards the start of the novel, with a heated discussion of what is classed as a good, printable book, before vowing to never work together again.
Despite Nora’s love for the hustle and bustle of New York, the plot mainly takes place in Sunshine Falls, North Carolina. Nora and her sister Libby are on a month-long holiday, to rekindle their bond. Whilst sitting in one of the only restaurants Sunshine Falls has to offer, Nora comes across none other than … Charlie Lastra, her sworn enemy. After getting over the shock of finding Charlie in a town that he, seemingly, would not be seen dead in, the pair begin to talk. By the end of the night, they have shared some of their biggest secrets and their chemistry is palpable. Their initial differences are put to one side, and what follows is an enthralling enemies-to-lovers plot.
Emily Henry delivers a fast-paced, gripping read in Book Lovers, and will most likely leave you wanting to read more of her romance novels!
Words by Daisy Harrison
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