9 surprising and tear-jerking non-traditional love stories to read this Valentine’s Day

Thirty-two and starting over isn’t glamorous. Misty’s back in her childhood bedroom, recovering from knee surgery and scrolling through dating apps, when she meets Christopher – dazzling and near-perfect… except that he’s in an open relationship. What begins as a six-week experiment while his partner is away becomes far more complicated. Dunn’s debut novel asks the kind of questions that keep most of us up at night: what’s the difference between what we want and what we need? And can we learn to care – or possibly, to love – less? 

Shop Wants And Needs by Roxy Dunn (Fig Tree) at Bookshop, £16.99

Clara and Francis have been conducting an affair in anonymous hotel rooms, sneaking off from their everyday lives. One day, they wake up in a strange city they don’t recognise, populated entirely by adulterers, free to love openly but cut off from the rest of the world. It’s a haunting meditation on desire and consequence, where love is tested by the very freedom it often craves. Ultimately, Francis and Clara have to decide how much they are willing to sacrifice to hold on to one another. (out 2 April)

Shop Permanence by Sophie Mackintosh (Hamish Hamilton) at Bookshop, £18.99

Narrated by by Èkó, the spirit of Lagos, and his mischievous minion Tatafo, this debut is a love letter to those living in the margins of Nigerian society. Vagabonds are those whose existence is literally outlawed: the queer, the poor, the displaced and footloose. From Johnny, a driver who loses his voice just as he discovers his love for a man, to a lesbian couple navigating underground sex work whose relationship becomes a portrait of tenderness against impossible odds. Spirits known as ‘Fairygodgirls’ give people books to help them understand themselves and discover new possibilities. It’s an unexpectedly joyous celebration, proving that even in a city designed to erase them, love of all kinds becomes the ultimate act of resistance. 

Shop Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde (Fourth Estate) at Bookshop, £9.99

Sometimes the most profound love stories aren’t romantic at all. When 12-year-old Nell meets Eve, the confident new girl with short hair and a wicked sense of humour, she discovers what it means to truly choose someone. Told across decades, through adolescence and houseshares, gay bars and parenthood, the pair hurt as much as they love each other but will always be there for the other. It’s a gorgeous testament of how friendship can be the most enduring romance of all. 

Shop Chosen Family by Madeleine Gray (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) at Bookshop, £20 

Long before The Shape Of Water made interspecies romance awards-worthy, there was Mrs Caliban. This slim, strange novel about a widow who falls in love with a sea monster is a brilliant meditation on grief, desire and the ways we seek connection in the aftermath of loss. It’s odd, it’s touching, and it proves that love has never been bound by convention.

Shop Mrs Caliban by Rachel Ingalls (Faber & Faber) at Bookshop, £9.99

Best known for Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson is the queen of the non-traditional love story. This devastating tale of obsession and desire is set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Henri is a young soldier, assigned to cook for Napoleon, who falls for Villanelle, a card dealer who has gambled her life away to a married woman. While Henri pines for Villanelle, her heart belongs to someone else. Winterson’s prose is reliably punchy, funny and achingly precise. If you haven’t read her work yet, consider this your permission to stop everything and dive in. 

Shop The Passion by Jeanette Winterson (Vintage) at Bookshop, £9.99

Aisha Muharrar has written for shows like Parks And Recreation, The Good Place and Hacks, so it’s hardly surprising that she could take a meaty topic like grief and have you guiltily chuckling on the bus. The story follows Julia, whose first love-cum-close friend Gabe dies unexpectedly at 29, she goes in search of his scattered belongings, leading her straight into his last love, Elizabeth. The pair share, withhold and learn more about Gabe than either of them expected, which leaves them with more questions than answers. It’s a brilliant exploration of how we choose to remember, how love persists and the unexpected connections that arise from a shared loss. 

Shop Loved One by Aisha Muharrar (Fourth Estate) at Bookshop, £16.99

When the British government starts plucking ‘expats’ from different time periods and bringing them to the present day, one civil servant is assigned to help a Victorian explorer adjust to modern life. What follows is far from your typical romance. Bradley weaves together questions of nationality, belonging and what it means to love someone with different values – literally from another era. With quiet but sizzling chemistry, this is a perfect book for the yearners among us. 

Shop The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Sceptre) at Bookshop, £9.99

Having abandoned his dreams of becoming a novelist, Chuck is a copywriter in his mid-30s who falls for Joey, a barista and poet 12 years his junior. The power dynamics are clear from the start: his luxury flat versus her cramped house-share, the crumbs in her bed compared to his careful life. While Joey is dreaming of a future together, Chuck is using her to heal the wounds of his past. It’s the perfect salve for anyone who has been on the receiving end of carelessness in modern dating culture.

Shop I Want You To Be Happy by Jem Calder (Faber & Faber) at Bookshop, £14.99