When you have spent your entire adult life accidentally brushing someone’s hand and immediately witnessing the tragic, messy and sometimes peculiar ways their love will end…well… you develop a taste for heroines who suffer beautifully.
Here are my must-reads – curated by someone who knows a thing or two about cursed love, dramatic irony and the art of bracing for impact.
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Moors, tears and a boss who communicates exclusively in brooding.
- Outlander by Diane Gabaldon. Historical pain with the bonus of kilts!
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Evelyn is the patron saint of women who make impossible choices for love.
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. A heroine haunted by a woman she never met. Suffering with the bonus of a fabulous mansion!
- Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Holds herself together with routines and rigid politeness. Like me.
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Magical, slow-burning agony.
Sometimes I read these books because I want to feel less alone. Sometimes I read them because their pain is familiar. But mostly I read them because they remind me of something I keep forgetting; even the most long-suffering heroines still get up, keep going and try again.
Maybe one day I will too. Maybe I will touch someone and see a future that doesn’t end in heartbreak.