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The Greatest Romance Literature

This selection of the 66 greatest works of romance is based on the continuing research carried out for The Greatest Literature of All Time and additional research into romance literature acclaimed by the world's readers, writers, critics and scholars.

In some literary traditions a romance is a novel, plain and simple. Or it's a kind of novel about a fabulous adventure in an historical context. But for The Greatest Romance Literature list we're adopting the common modern sense of a romance being a love story. A romantic relationship has to be at the heart of what the work is about. So Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, which includes amorous affairs as subplots, does not qualify for this list, while his Anna Karenina, centred on a love affair, does.

The Greatest Romance Literature focuses on major creative works—such as novels, novellas, plays and story collections.

The list is continually updated as new works are discovered and appreciation of older works evolves. Please note the current revision date when citing the list.

Latest update: December 6, 2024

c.50
 
Chaereas and Callirhoe
by Chariton, Greece
Novel, also known as Callirhoe

c.100
 
An Ephesian Tale of Anthia and Habrocomes
by Xenophon of Ephesus, Greece
Novel, also known as An Ephesian Tale or Ephesiaka

c.120
 
The Adventures of Leucippe and Clitophon
by Achilles Tatius, Greece
Novel, also known as Leucippe and Clitophon

c.150
 
Daphnis and Chloe
by Longus, Greece
Novel

1559
 
Diana
by Jorge de Montemayor, Portugal
Novel, also known as The Seven Books of the Diana

c.1596
missing graphic
Romeo and Juliet
Play

Possibly Shakespeare's best-known play. Everyone knows the story of star-crossed lovers who defied their families—the feuding Capulets and Montagues—and ended their lives tragically. Romeo and Juliet is a play with.... CritiqueQuotesBuy

1601–1602
 
Twelfth Night
Play

1740
 
Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded
by Samuel Richardson, England
Novel

1782
 
Cecilia
by Fanny Burney, England
Novel

1811
missing graphic
Sense and Sensibility
by Jane Austen, England
Novel

In the dichotomy suggested in the title, Jane Austen in her first published work comes down conclusively on the side of sense over sensibility. It's supposed to be a study of two marriageable sisters with the eldest.... CritiqueQuotesAt the moviesBuy

1813
missing graphic
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen, England
Novel

Pride and Prejudice has one of the most skilful beginnings in literature. It opens of course with that famous "truth universally acknowledged" about single men and fortunes—and its equally delicious corollary.... CritiqueQuotesTextAt the moviesBuy

1815
missing graphic
Emma
by Jane Austen, England
Novel

If you're not a Jane Austen admirer, Emma could be her novel you most despise. But if you are a fan, Emma is likely the one you most think shows how adept a writer she was. Austen set out in the last of the works.... CritiqueQuotesAt the moviesBuy

1847
missing graphic
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë, England
Novel

Charlotte Brontë's narrator and protagonist, like many a youthful Dickens protagonist, is the epitome of spunk. But Jane Eyre is also female, a young girl to begin with and a young woman for much of the novel.... CritiqueQuotesTextAt the moviesBuy

 
missing graphic
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë, England
Novel

I'm somewhat stumped by Wuthering Heights. It's solidly ensconced in the literary canon and inflicted on classes of students. And plenty of people—readers and writers alike—seem to love it. But three readings.... CritiqueQuotesTextAt the moviesBuy

1874
 
Anna Karenina
by Leo Tolstoy, Russia
Novel

1928
 
Lady Chatterley's Lover
by D.H. Lawrence, England
Novel

1932
 
Invitation to the Waltz
by Rosamond Lehmann, England
Novel

1935
 
The Regency Buck
by Georgette Heyer, England
Novel

1936
 
Gone with the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell, United States
Novel

 
 
The Weather in the Streets
by Rosamond Lehmann, England
Novel

1937
 
An Infamous Army
by Georgette Heyer, England
Novel

1938
 
Rebecca
by Daphne du Maurier, England
Novel

1941
 
Frenchman's Creek
by Daphne du Maurier, England
Novel

1944
 
Friday's Child
by Georgette Heyer, England
Novel

1945
 
Ross Poldark
by Winston Graham, England
Novel

1950
 
The Grand Sophy
by Georgette Heyer, England
Novel

1955
 
Lord of Scoundrels
by Loretta Chase, United States
Novel

1957
 
Doctor Zhivago
by Boris Pasternak, Russia
Novel

1963
 
The Graduate
by Charles Webb, United States
Novella

1966
 
Black Sheep
by Georgette Heyer, England
Novel

1969
missing graphic
The French Lieutenant's Woman
by John Fowles, England
Novel

Sometimes it seems the English-speaking world spent the entire twentieth century trying to shake off the repressions of the Victorian era. The rebellious 1960s, for example, may have prided themselves on rejecting.... CritiqueQuotesAt the moviesBuy

1975
 
Forever...
by Judy Blume, United States
Novel

 
 
The Thorn Birds
by Colleen McCullough, Australia
Novel

1977
 
Delta of Venus
by Anaïs Nin, France
Story collection

1978
 
The Emerald Peacock
by Katharine Gordon, Scotland
Novel

1985
 
Whitney, My Love
by Judith McNaught, United States
Story collection

1991
 
Outlander
by Diana Gabaldon, United States
Novel

1992
 
Heartbeat
by Danielle Steele, United States
Novella

 
 
The Bridges of Madison County
by Robert James Waller, United States
Novel

1993
 
Birdsong
by Sebastian Faulks, England
Novel

1996
 
Indigo
by Beverly Jenkins, United States
Novel

 
 
Kiss an Angel
by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, United States
Novel

 
 
The Notebook
by Nicholas Sparks, United States
Novel

1999
 
Jewels of the Sun
by Nora Roberts, United States
Novel

2000
 
The Duke and I
by Julia Quinn, United States
Novel

2003
 
The Time Traveler's Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger, United States
Novel

2005
 
Twilight
by Stephenie Meyer, United States
Novel

2006
 
The Night Watch
by Sarah Waters, Wales
Novel

2007
 
Call Me By Your Name
by André Aciman, United States
Novel

2009
 
Vision in White
by Nora Roberts, United States
Novel

2010
 
Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake
by Sarah MacLean, United States
Novel

2011
 
A Discovery of Witches
by Deborah Harkness, United States
Novel

 
 
Fifty Shades of Grey
by E.L. James (Erika Mitchell), England
Novel

2012
 
The Fault in Our Stars
by John Green, United States
Novel

 
 
Me Before You
by Jojo Moyes, England
Novel

2013
 
Crazy Rich Asians
by Kevin Kwan, United States
Novel

2014
 
To All The Boys I've Loved Before
by Jenny Han, United States
Novel

2016
 
It Ends with Us
by Colleen Hoover, United States
Novel

2017
 
An Extraordinary Union
by Alyssa Cole, United States
Novel

2018
 
The Wedding Date
by Jasmine Guillory, United States
Novel

 
 
The Kiss Quotient
by Helen Hoang, United States
Novel

 
 
Normal People
by Sally Rooney, Ireland
Novel

2019
 
Get a Life, Chloe Brown
by Talia Hibbert, England
Novel

 
 
Red, White & Royal Blue
by Casey McQuistom, United States
Novel

 
 
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
by Ocean Vuong, United States
Novel

2020
 
Boyfriend Material
by Alexis Hall, England
Novel