Meg Mason’s Sorrow and Bliss quickly became a sensation when it was published in 2021. Her story of a marriage marred by mental illness claimed the hearts of seemingly everyone who’d read it. No surprise, really, given its wit and tender portrayal of romance, dysfunctional families and sisterly love. It got her shortlisted for the Women’s Prize – and launched the Australian author’s career here in the UK.
Her hotly anticipated new novel, Sophie, Standing There, tells the story of a woman who stumbles across the work of an author she hasn’t read for years – and then forms an intense emotional attachment to her, despite never having met her. It promises to be a raw, bittersweet delve into loneliness, human connection and all the forms of love that sustain us.
But what are Mason’s favourite books about love? Here she shares the five most romantic novels she has read.
Persuasion by Jane Austen
“Since you’ve no doubt read Persuasion, you don’t need reminding it’s the story of Anne Elliot, who was persuaded at 19 against marrying the young Captain Wentworth. The next eight years Anne spends not-getting over him, but when they meet again by chance, it’s clear that he got over her. Or did he? Maybe he didn’t. So goes the monologue inside Anne’s head as she reads every word and gesture for clues.
