The Best Fiction Books to Read With Your Partner

Is it true that every man is quietly obsessed with the Roman Empire? Whatever the case, it certainly makes for a fun reading experience, one that all genders can enjoy. Taylor Caldwell's novel delves into this much-dissected era through the eyes of the philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero. 

From his birth in 106 BC in the hill town of Arpinum, Cicero knew that he was destined for greatness. He grows up to be a lawyer with increasing power throughout the city, and forms a tenuous alliance with Julius Caesar. A Pillar of Iron uses extensive historical recordings and research to imagine the rise of Cicero, a man who could lay claim to being one of the most influential and important men of all-time.

How about a scathing satire about the ever-prickly gender divide in relationships? English essayist Max Beerbohm was known as a dandy and humorist whose works were popular with radio broadcasts in the pre-TV and cinema age. His only novel, Zuleika Dobson, was published in 1911 and satirized undergraduate life at Oxford University, where Beerbohm once studied. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked the book at 59^th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20^th century.

The Zuleika of the title is a beautiful former governess turned prestidigitator (a sleight-of-hand expert) who has become a minor celebrity in the privileged and male-heavy world of Oxford academia. At Judas College, where her grandfather works as a warden, she meets and falls in love for the first time in her life with the Duke of Dorset, an aloof aristocrat who is highly unprepared for the feelings that Zuleika elicits in him. There’s not much else for her to do but break his heart, and in return, the Duke decides—as does the rest of the male population of Oxford—that he's quite literally dying to be with her.

There’s a reason that Huck Finn’s adventures are considered one of the greatest works in all of English literature. Mark Twain’s grand legacy is one that has defined generations of fiction, and his work continues to inspire readers over 140 years since its initial publication. Why not experience the book for the first time with someone you love?

After receiving a grand sum of money following his adventures with Tom Sawyer, young Huck is forced to deal with his abusive drunkard father, Pap. After Pap tries to kill Huck, he fakes his own murder and goes on a journey down the Mississippi river with the enslaved man Jim. 

British author Fay Weldon was one of the most vocal feminist writers of the latter half of the 20th century, in large part thanks to her witty and candid novels which depicted women who were downtrodden by society finding their place in the world.

At the grand age of 24, Vivien is considered a spinster. In England of the 1920s, she's seen as an old maid in waiting, thanks to her great intelligence, plain style, and her height which allows her to tower over most men. Fortunately, Vivien is rich, so she can travel to London and bribe a charismatic London publisher to marry her. What he does not know is that Vivien is pregnant with another's child, and will die in childbirth in just a few months…

Over nearly 70 years, Graham Greene, the English writer and journalist, penned no fewer than 25 novels and won a slew of awards. William Golding called Greene "the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man's consciousness and anxiety." 1951's The End of the Affair was the fourth and final book in what Greene called his "Catholic novels" tetralogy, which also included Brighton Rock, The Power and the Glory, and The Heart of the Matter. It was also inspired by Greene’s own relationship with politician Catherine Walston, to whom the novel is dedicated. 

The novel focuses on Maurice Bendrix, a writer in London during the Second World War, and Sarah Miles, the lonely wife of a civil servant. The pair fall in love and into a passionate affair, but both of them know that they could never be together forever. After Sarah is tragically killed, Bendrix, wracked with guilt and jealousy, turns his attention towards Sarah's widower, the kind but dull Henry. 

While many people may know Cold Mountain best from the 2003 Oscar-winning movie of the same name, Charles Frazier's novel was a huge hit before that. His historical drama, inspired by the author's great-great-grandfather and Homer's Odyssey won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and sold over three million copies worldwide.

The American Civil War is drawing to an end. W. P. Inman, a wounded Confederate soldier, has fled his infantry and is journeying back to his home in Cold Mountain, North Carolina. His great love, Ada Monroe, is a minister's daughter trying to carve out a living for herself as tough times set in. A young drifter named Ruby helps her to keep her farm afloat, all while Inman tries to outrun the Confederate Home Guard who are out to catch and punish deserters.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon is widely considered to be one of the best authors of the 21st century so far (he's also written songs with Mark Ronson and is the showrunner on Star Trek: Picard - a true renaissance man)! His sophomore novel, Wonder Boys, was published in 1995 and was inspired by his own experiences as a frustrated writer trying to finish his magnum opus.

Grady Tripp had a hugely successful first novel that made him a literary star, but that was seven years ago and he's never been able to complete the follow-up. Now, he's a writing professor in Pittsburgh with an ex-wife, a pregnant girlfriend, and an incomplete manuscript that haunts him. During one lost weekend at a writing festival with his talented but disturbed student James Leer and his libertine editor Terry Crabtree, Tripp is forced to finally confront his middle-age crisis and the book that he can't finish.

Shyam Selvadurai is celebrated for his novels that are inspired by his experiences as a Sri Lankan writer who grew up in Canada and dealt with coming out as a gay man. He published Funny Boy in 1994, and it won both the Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction. It was later adapted into a film, which won a variety of awards. 

Set in Sri Lanka where Selvadurai grew up, the novel follows various members of a large Tamil family, particularly Arjie, who is coming to terms with his sexuality. In the north of the country, the civil war between the army and the Tamil Tigers is tearing communities apart. 

The English writer Evelyn Waugh was one of the defining voices of early-20th century literature, particularly for his depictions of the crumbling upper British classes and the decline of the old power structures. Vile Bodies, published in 1930, was a caustic satire of the prior decade’s pre-Depression era of flappers and the Bright Young Things.

The war is over and the young generations are partying. The cocktails are flowing, the sports cars are fast, and the glamorous aristocrats of Mayfair have nothing more serious on their minds than dancing and hedonism. Struggling writer Adam Fenwick-Symes gets a first-hand view of this privileged world, one where there's a darkness simmering beneath the glitzy surface. How long can the parties go on for?

Patricia Highsmith is one of the true queens of crime fiction, thanks to her twisty and deliciously addictive Ripley novels. She’s famed for her conniving anti-heroes, scheming scammers, and blend of passion with backstabbing. What better a book to read with your loved one? 

The Tremor of Forgery is the story of Howard Ingham, an American expatriate writer who has traveled to Tunisia to gather material for a movie he's writing. While he's cool towards his girlfriend who he left behind in New York, he grows increasingly frantic when she doesn't respond to his letters. To make matters worse, the filmmaker who hired Ingham has failed to show in Tunisia. Now, Ingham is alone, trying to work and pass the time, and avoid trouble. Then he finds himself in the midst of a scandal involving murder, disappearing corpses, and the Soviet Union.