We all know the power of a
good love story; anytime we hear tales of undying devotion, passionate reunions
or romantic proposals, even the hardest of hearts melt in the face of all that
ardor. This is probably why romance
novels continue to rack up billion dollar plus sales year after year.
While I’m not a romance
reader (I read one Nora Roberts book about a hundred years ago), I do like
reading stories with romantic elements in them, and of course if there’s some
murder, obsession and infidelity in the mix, I’m in and I’m in big.
So, on that note, here are my
Top Five Darkest Literary Love Stories:
“Madame Bovary,” by Gustave Flaubert
It’s hard to say who’s more
tragic in this story; the insatiable Emma Bovary, a bottomless well of need for
both the material and physical or her hapless husband, Charles, who won’t break
the shackles she’s placed around him.
Either way, “Madame Bovary” is a fascinating portrait of a woman’s
descent into madness due to being unable to accept the reality of who she is
and what her life is. 
“Tess
of the d'Urbervilles,” by Thomas Hardy
There
are so many things you could say about this book (and indeed, many things have been said about it), but I only
have a few. The luminous Tess is
exploited by everyone from her social-climbing father to her heartless seducer,
Alec and even her true love, the pious Angel Clare. My heart ached for her foolish pursuit of the
latter and in the end, her love for him ultimately proved to be her undoing as
she’s put to death for the crime of murder. 
“Written on the Body,” by Jeanette Winterson
This is
a delicious exploration of a passionate love affair between a married woman and
an unnamed narrator. For a further
twist, the reader never learns the sex of said narrator. This novel plays with emotions, sex and
imagination in a beautifully descriptive way, leaving the reader to ponder the
mysteries of love.
“Strange Fits of Passion,”
by Anita Shreve
If
there is one writer who I desperately wish I could write like, it is Anita
Shreve. There is such a lyrical and
haunting quality to her storytelling.
This tale of a relationship gone sour with the bitterness of domestic
abuse chillingly illustrates once again that unless you are under the bed, you
never really know what goes on between two people. This is beautiful and ugly all at once, a
rare feat.
“Where or When,” by Anita
Shreve
I chose
another Anita Shreve novel because like “Strange Fits of Passion,” it details a
doomed love affair. The lovers, Charles
and Sian decide to find out “what if?” when they consummate their relationship
and the results are obsessive, all-consuming and tragic. 
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