I see people talking about Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels frequently, but I haven’t heard a lot about the HBO adaptation. Perhaps it’s the internet circle I run in, or perhaps it’s just that it’s not as flashy a show as, say, House of the Dragon or something similar. But what I have heard about it is that it’s stellar, and stands up to the much beloved series. If you love the journey exploring the complicated friendship between Elena and Lila throughout the years, you can pick up one of these books that centers around intricate relationships.
Sula by Toni Morrison
Sula and Nel are born in a small town at the top of a hill. Sula is wild, and daring; she does what she wants, while Nel is well-mannered, a mama’s girl with a questioning heart. Growing up they forge a bond stronger than anything, even the dark secret they have to bear. Until, decades later, as the girls become women, Sula’s anarchy leads to a betrayal that may be beyond forgiveness.
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Four college classmates — broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition — move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma.
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Amma is a newly acclaimed playwright whose work often explores her Black lesbian identity; her old friend Shirley is a teacher, jaded after decades of work in London’s funding-deprived schools; Carole, one of Shirley’s former students, is a successful investment banker; Carole’s mother Bummi works as a cleaner and worries about her daughter’s lack of rootedness despite her obvious achievements. From a nonbinary social media influencer to a 93-year-old woman living on a farm in Northern England, these unforgettable characters also intersect in shared aspects of their identities, from age to race to sexuality to class.
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
Alice, a novelist, meets Felix, who works in a warehouse, and asks him if he’d like to travel to Rome with her. In Dublin, her best friend, Eileen, is getting over a breakup, and slips back into flirting with Simon, a man she has known since childhood. Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon are still young — but life is catching up with them. They desire each other, they delude each other, they get together, they break apart. They have sex, they worry about sex, they worry about their friendships and the world they live in.
Happy Place by Emily Henry
Harriet and Wyn broke up five months ago. And haven’t told their best friends. Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. But the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts.
Women Talking by Miriam Toews
One evening, eight Mennonite women climb into a hay loft to conduct a secret meeting. For the past two years, each of these women, and more than a hundred other girls in their colony, has been repeatedly violated in the night by demons coming to punish them for their sins. Now that the women have learned they were in fact drugged and attacked by a group of men from their own community, they are determined to protect themselves and their daughters from future harm.
Wahala by Nikki May
Ronke wants happily ever after and 2.2 kids. But she’s dating Kayode and her friends think he’s just another in a long line of dodgy Nigerian boyfriends. Boo has everything Ronke wants, but she’s frustrated, unfulfilled, plagued by guilt, and desperate to remember who she used to be. Simi is the one with the perfect lifestyle. No one knows she’s crippled by impostor syndrome and lying to her husband about trying for a baby. When the high-flying, charismatic Isobel explodes into the group, she sows chaos, and Ronke, Simi, and Boo’s close friendship begins to crack.
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, was about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings. But the AIDS epidemic grows around him and his friends are dying. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, his friend Nico’s little sister. Thirty years later, Fiona is tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult and staying with an old friend, a famous photographer.
The Ensemble by Aja Gabel
Jana. Brit. Daniel. Henry. They would never have been friends if they hadn’t needed each other. They would never have found each other except for the art which drew them together. They would never have become family without their love for the music, for each other. Together, they are the Van Ness Quartet. After the group’s rocky start, they experience devastating failure and wild success, heartbreak and marriage, triumph and loss, betrayal and enduring loyalty.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special — and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together.
Ellen Whitfield is senior publicist at Books Forward, an author publicity and book marketing firm committed to promoting voices from a diverse variety of communities. From book reviews and author events, to social media and digital marketing, we help authors find success and connect with readers.
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