We all love a story of opposites attract – and it’s just as compelling when it’s purely platonic. Magic seems to happen when two very different people come together and find their similarities. It’s a reminder that all of us can find common ground if we try hard enough. Here are 10 books that celebrate friendship between the unlikeliest of people.
Enlightenment by Sarah Perry
A mind-expanding, mesmerising story of platonic love between twentysomething Grace and fiftysomething Thomas, two kindred souls who meet through their church and are both grappling with their faiths. Woven through their story is a historical mystery about a female astronomer who disappeared in the 19th century.
Enlightenment by Sarah Perry
The Giver Of Stars
I loved this adventure story for girls for its plucky female characters and wonderful descriptions of the Appalachian Mountains landscape. When young Englishwoman Alice Wright moves to Kentucky during the Great Depression to marry a wealthy American, she’s a real fish out of water. It’s only when she joins a gutsy gang of horseback librarians who distribute books to the poor that she finds the friendship and freedom she craves.
Penguin The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
Still Life by Sarah Winman
I love that there’s always something a bit magical about Winman’s books. Set in Italy in the years after the Second World War, this joyful novel tells the story of former soldier Ulysses and how a friendship with an older woman changes the course of his life.
Still Life by Sarah Winman
H Is For Hawk by Helen Macdonald
Pole-axed by grief after her father’s sudden death, Helen Macdonald decides to realise her childhood dream of adopting a bird of prey. She finds surprising solace in training it. Big-hearted, joyful and glowing with gorgeous descriptions of nature, this an unusual but very special memoir.
Vintage H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud
A middle-aged woman who feels life has passed her by narrates Claire Messud’s quietly menacing novel. When a new child starts in teacher Nora’s class she finds herself falling in love with him and his exotic parents – to devastating effect.
Virago The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud
Eddie Winston Is Looking For Love by Marianne Cronin
The author of The One Hundred Years Of Lenni And Margot returns with another wonderfully joyful read. Eddie is a 90-year-old charity shop volunteer who is still pining for his first love. When grieving Bella visits the shop, they become friends and she makes it her mission to find him love.
Eddie Winston Is Looking for Love by Marianne Cronin
Goodbye Birdie Greenwing by Ericka Waller
Prepare to shed some tears while reading this gorgeously tender story about friendship and love in all its forms. Birdie is still grieving the death of her husband and twin sister when she receives a cancer diagnosis. Her illness throws her together with two neighbours, both also struggling in their own ways, who form a circle of support.
Goodbye Birdie Greenwing by Ericka Waller
The Book Of Beginnings by Sally Page
The joy of finding friendship inunexpected places is celebrated in this uplifting read by the author of The Keeper Of Stories. Jo is looking for an escape after a bad break-up, so agrees to look after her Uncle Wilbur’s stationery shop, where she meets Ruth, a vicar running from a secret, and septuagenarian Malcolm, who is writing his first novel.
The Book of Beginnings by Sally Page
Rare Singles by Benjamin Myers Some characters get under your skin, and Earlon ‘Bucky’ Bronco, an ageing addict who once had a hit record, is one of the most memorable I’ve come across in a long time. When he’s invited to a Northern Soul event in Scarborough, he meets downtrodden Dinah – his number one fan – and the two find hope in each other.
Rare Singles by Benjamin Myers
The Lido by Libby Page
In south London a young journalist, Kate, and 80-something widow, Rosemary, find themselves thrown together in a fight to stop their local lido from being demolished and sold off to property developers. It’s a story about friendship blooming in unexpected places and the joy it can bring.
Orion The Lido by Libby Page
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