The ultimate weepy. Two people from different sides of the tracks meet at Harvard and fall in love. We don’t really need to say too much more. If you don’t know the story though you really must read it.
August 2009 Guest Editor Erica James on Love Story by ERICH SEGAL
Eric Segal’s Love Story was another book I read when I had just started writing and I was really struck by the witty and snappy dialogue and the sparseness of the narrative. As short as the novel is – I call it bite-sized! – it’s an excellent example of less is more and I always try to remind myself of this when I’m writing.
The inspiration for the number-one box office hit film, which was named one of the 100 most romantic films of all time by the American Film Institute.
Meet Oliver Barrett IV, a rich jock from a stuffy WASP family on his way to a Harvard degree and a career in law, and Jenny Cavilleri, a wisecracking working-class beauty studying music at Radcliffe.
Oliver and Jenny - kindred spirits from different worlds ? talk, question, answer and fall for each other so deeply that no one, themselves included, can understand it. So instead of trying to understand it, they embrace it. Until something happens that will turn their new, perfect world upside down.
This is their story: a story of two young people and a love so uncompromising it will bring joy to your heat and tears to your eyes.
'Beautifully written . . . profoundly moving' Sunday Express
'A lump forms in the throat and starts growing until it feels like a football coming up sideways. You either fight it or let it out' New York Times
‘We loved it and we think you’ll love it too’ Sun
Author
About Erich Segal
Erich Segal was born in Brooklyn in 1937 and graduated from Harvard with a B.A. in 1958, followed by a Masters and a Doctorate. He first made his name as an academic writer in the field of classical literature before moving on to write the book that made him famous - LOVE STORY. This was published in 1970 and went on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide. He is married with two daughters and lives in London.
