Famous Love Triangles in Literature

The bestselling author of Warlight traces the intersection of four damaged lives in an abandoned Italian villa at the end of World War II. “A rare spellbinding web of dreams” (TIME).

Dutiful Newland Archer, an eligible young man from New York high society, is about to announce his engagement to May Welland when May’s cousin, the beautiful and exotic Countess Ellen Olenska, is introduced into their circle. Almost against their will, Newland and Ellen develop a passionate bond, and a classic love triangle takes shape as the three young people find themselves drawn into a poignant and bitter conflict between love and duty. The Age of Innocence beautifully captures the complexities of passion, independence, and fulfillment, and how painfully hard it can be for individuals to truly see one another and their place in the world.

Head-in-the-stars Audrey is about to marry down-to-earth Josh. They have a healthy, stable relationship, but as the big day approaches, Audrey’s found herself wondering if Josh really is “The One.” So, when Josh’s sister shows up to the rehearsal dinner with Fred, Audrey’s “What If? Guy” — the man she had one amazing day with six years ago — Audrey finds herself torn. Surely Fred’s appearance the night before she is due to get married can’t be a coincidence. Is fate trying to stop her from making a huge mistake? Or does destiny just have a really twisted sense of humor?

From the acclaimed author of The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans. A moving new novel that subtly reimagines our world and time in a haunting story of friendship and love. A tale of deceptive simplicity, Never Let Me Go slowly reveals an extraordinary emotional depth and resonance — and takes its place among Kazuo Ishiguro’s finest work.

It is a perfect August morning, and Elle, a happily married mother of three, awakens at “The Paper Palace” — the family summer place which she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different: Last night Elle and her oldest friend Jonas crept out the back door into the darkness and had sex with each other for the first time, all while their spouses chatted away inside. Now, over the next twenty-four hours, Elle will have to decide between the life she has made with her genuinely beloved husband, and the life she always imagined with her childhood love. Tender yet devastating, The Paper Palace considers the tensions between desire and dignity, the legacies of abuse, and the crimes and misdemeanors of families.

The bestselling, Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of an Ending delivers a tragicomedy about a successful businessman who wants to undo the results of his former best friend’s betrayal and get his ex-wife back. Written as an intimate series of crosscutting monologues that allow each character to whisper their secrets and interpretations directly to the reader, Love, etc. is an unsettling examination of confessional culture and a profound reflection on the power of perspective.

From the widely acclaimed author — a rich and atmospheric novel about a man living in two worlds, struggling with the conflicting claims of two utterly different women.

Cece is in love. She has arrived early at her future in-laws’ lake house in Salish, Montana, to finish planning her wedding to Charlie. Charlie has asked Garrett, his best friend from college, to officiate the ceremony. As Cece spends time with Garrett, his gruff mask slips, and she grows increasingly uncertain about her future. As a contagious stomach flu threatens to scuttle the wedding, and Charlie and Garrett’s friendship is put to the ultimate test, Cece must decide between the life she’s dreamed of and a life she’s never imagined.

Moving back through the 1940s, through air raids, blacked-out streets, illicit partying, and sexual adventure, to end with its beginning in 1941, The Night Watch tells the story of four Londoners — three women and a young man with a past — whose lives, and those of their friends and lovers, connect in tragedy, stunning surprise, and exquisite turns, only to change irreversibly in the shadow of a grand historical event.

It surprises no one that the charming but wayward Vadinho dos Guimaraes — a gambler notorious for never winning — dies during Carnival. His long suffering widow Dona Flor devotes herself to her cooking school and her friends, who urge her to remarry. She is soon drawn to a kind pharmacist who is everything Vadinho was not, and is altogether happy to marry him. But after the wedding she finds herself dreaming about her first husband’s amorous attentions; and one evening Vadinho himself appears by her bed, as lusty as ever, to claim his marital rights.

A tale of two young scholars researching the secret love affair of two Victorian poets that’s an exhilarating novel of wit and romance, an intellectual mystery, and a triumphant love story.

Set in rural Japan shortly after World War II, this gripping novel tells the story of a strange and utterly absorbing love triangle that leads to psychological self-entrapment, seduction, and murder.

From the author of Dear Edward comes a “powerfully affecting” (People) family story that asks: Can love make a broken person whole? An exquisite homage to Louisa May Alcott’s timeless classic, Little Women, Hello Beautiful is a profoundly moving portrait of what is possible when we choose to love someone not in spite of who they are, but because of it.

Grace has loved Jackson since she was fifteen. Spending every summer together exploring his grandfather’s chateau and the tumbling rivers of the gorgeous Ardeche region of France, they were best friends. Until he married someone else. Three years later, a newly single Jackson re-enters Grace’s life with an irresistible offer: Her dream job in the very town where their story began. As memories from those idyllic summers flood back, Grace encounters another old friend Étienne, who proposes a plan to make Jackson jealous. Their scheme begins to work just as Grace finds herself questioning if the sparks between them might not be so pretend after all. But games can be dangerous, and Étienne is harboring a secret that could shatter Grace’s heart.

A swoony romantic novel following an elite ice dancer caught in a love triangle with her new skating partner and an old flame. Will she find her edge and claim her place at the top, or will her heart lead her in a different direction?

From the bestselling author of The Light We Lost comes a tender and moving new novel about a woman at a crossroads after the death of her father, and caught between the love of two men.

Frank Li’s parents expect him to end up with a nice Korean girl – which is a problem, since Frank is finally dating the girl of his dreams: Brit Means. Brit, who is funny and nerdy just like him. Brit, who makes him laugh like no one else. Brit . . . who is white. Desperate to be with Brit without his parents finding out, Frank turns to family friend Joy Song, who is in a similar bind. Together, they come up with a plan to help each other and keep their parents off their backs. Frank thinks he’s found the solution to all his problems, but when life throws him a curveball, he’s left wondering whether he ever really knew anything about love — or himself — at all.

Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she’s exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for her sister’s phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she’s willing to go to protect her.