Valentine’s Day is approaching quickly, and if you’re looking for something sweet or melancholic to celebrate the holiday, look no further. Here is the ultimate guide to books featuring love.

“Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen

Jane Austen’s second and arguably most popular novel follows Elizabeth Bennet, a headstrong and intelligent young woman, and her tumultuous relationship with Mr. Darcy, a wealthy and proud landowner. Set in regency era England, where a woman’s economic and social security depend upon marriage, Elizabeth and her four sisters vie not only for a partner to secure their status but love and fulfillment. Austen explores themes of love, class and social expectations with radiant wit and exquisite prose. 

“I cannot fix the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew I had begun.”

“The Wife” by Meg Wolitzer 

In Meg Wolitzer’s “The Wife,” readers are introduced to Joan Castleman in the moments she decides to end her marriage to a renowned American author. Joan has spent the last forty years suppressing her own literary talents to support her husband through his own career. In her novel, Wolitzer questions the nature of partnership and the uncertain position of women in a male-dominated world. 

“An Apprenticeship or the Book of Pleasures” by Clarice Lispector

In “An Apprenticeship or the Book of Pleasures,” Clarice Lispector delves into the life of Lóri, a primary school teacher struggling with solitude and isolation. Led into a more fulfilling life by Ulisses, a philosophy professor, Lóri explores the potential for a relationship and human connections. Lispector takes her reader on a unique and alluring journey through her character’s mind in a stream of consciousness and metaphysical style in what many call her most accessible work. 

“Devotion” by Patti Smith

In this short work, author Patti Smith explores her motivations for writing and untangles her love for literature on a pilgrimage of sorts to monuments dedicated to philosophers and writers of the past. This book also includes an originally crafted short story about love and two people’s spiral into obsession. The tale follows the budding relationship between Eugenia, a young ice skater consumed by her art, and a possessive middle-aged collector. The book speaks on themes of love and self-discovery in intricately formulated and beautiful compositions.

“Beloved” by Toni Morrison 

Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison transcends genre in her spellbinding novel “Beloved.” The story takes place in both the period prior to and following the Civil War. It follows Sethe, a young mother, in her life after enslavement. Sethe is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died without a name and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word — beloved. Morrison questions the true meaning of freedom and leaves her readers to decipher truth from fiction and piece together the events that shape her characters. She tackles the cruelty of humanity and the sheer strength of hope and endurance. 

“Some things you forget. Other things you never do. But it’s not. Places, places are still there. If a house burns down, it’s gone, but the place — the picture of it — stays, and not just in my rememory, but out there, in the world.”

“Rewitched” by Lucy Jane Wood 

Rewitched, Lucy Jane Wood’s debut novel, combines fantasy with romance in a splendidly cozy exploration of self-love and growth. The book follows Belladonna Blackthorn, a burnt-out witch working in a bookstore. Her 30th birthday triggers a summons from her coven, one that will test her magical abilities and if she fails, take them away. Confronted with the possibility of losing her magic, Belladonna is forced to decide what is important to her. In a story that reads like a ‘90s rom-com, readers are invited to investigate what it means to truly love oneself. 

“Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott 

In her warmly crafted novel, Louisa May Alcott weaves a story of love and friendship following the lives of her beloved March sisters — Amy, Jo, Beth and Meg. The story chronicles the sisters as they grow from children into adults and struggle to survive in the midst of the American Civil War. The story explores the conflict between personal ambition and familial responsibility in a timeless and beautiful manner.

“Atonement” by Ian McEwan 

On a  summer night in 1935, 13-year-old Briony Tallis accused her sister’s lover and the son of her family’s servant, Robbie Turner, of a terrible crime — a crime that’s repercussions will follow Briony into adulthood and through the terror and carnage of World War II. At its core, this novel is an analysis of class and how it can impact the lens through which one is both seen by and sees their world.