Best of 2025_1

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What were the best books of 2025?

People in Love

Countless readers fell in love with Talking at Night. Now, pre-order People in Love: a love triangle that you will never forget. 
A GOOD HOUSEKEEPING MOST ANTICIPATED NOVEL OF 2025 
'Heartfelt, full of warmth, and shows the everyday intimacies that make a life'FLORENCE KNAPP, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE NAMES 
One bright blue day, on a bench by the river, Nora’s partner Robin proposes. 
It is unexpected; they’d always agreed that they didn’t need a wedding. But after a decade of in-jokes, dancing in the low-lit kitchen and sharing morning toast in bed, Nora says yes. Why wouldn’t she? 
The answer lands on the night of their engagement party, when Bren turns up on her doorstep. 
Growing up, Bren and Nora were the sort of best friends who everyone swore would end up together. But when a sudden heartbreak turned their lives upside down, Bren left, Nora stayed, and the silent longing between them remained unspoken. 
Now, he’s back, and their tentative yet undeniable spark reignites, forcing Nora to ask herself: 
How can you know your heart, if it feels like it’s split in two? 
 Tender and compelling, People in Love is a story about what-ifs and maybes, and the moments of misunderstanding that can shape our lives. It’s a book about living one life while musing on another, exploring how our choices shape our relationships and inform our regrets, and revealing, in the end, that the real love story is not always the one you'd expect. 
PRAISE FOR TALKING AT NIGHT 
'I was rapt' ANN NAPOLITANO 
'A perfect thing'CHRIS WHITAKER 
'So gorgeously harrowing and romantic'CATHERINE NEWMAN 
'Tender and true, this is a stunning debut that reminded me of Sally Rooney'GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 
'A classic love story in every sense, and yet in Claire Daverley's hands, it felt entirely new'MARY BETH KEANE 
'A beautifully observed, tender love story'JOJO MOYES 
'A passionate, page-turning debut'DAILY MAIL

Claire Daverley’s love stories are heartfelt, full of warmth, and show the everyday intimacies that make a life.

Florence Knapp, bestselling author of THE NAMES

Claire Daverley was born in 1991 and has been writing stories ever since she was six years old. After graduating with a degree in Fine Art from The University of Oxford, she began a career in publishing, writing about books by day but penning her own by night. Her debut novel, Talking at Night, has sold in twenty-two languages to date and was nominated in the Debut of the Year category at the Nibbies and shortlisted for the Nota Bene prize. People in Love is her second novel. She lives in Scotland with her husband and spaniel.

Claire Daverley

A beautifully observed, tender love story with characters you really care about...a bit like Normal People. I devoured it

Tender and true, this is a stunning debut with lyrical and emotional writing that reminded me at times of Sally Rooney

With shades of Sally Rooney, this is a lyrical, tender love story

Good Housekeeping, 'The books we're looking forward to in 2023'

Deeply romantic . . . Reminded me of just how all-consuming and transformative first love can be. The more I read, the more I was completely immersed in the story of Rosie and Will and how life, and tragedy, conspire to keep them apart

LAURA BARNETT, author of THE VERSIONS OF US

Quietly devastating, entirely beautiful, bruising and hopeful. In a world of compromise, Claire Daverley has created a perfect thing. Talking at Night takes its place amongst my all time favourites. I implore you to read it. I'll never forget it

CHRIS WHITAKER, author of WE BEGIN AT THE END

Talking at Night is a masterful and authentic depiction of true love in all its messy, complicated and gut-wrenching glory. Will and Rosie are the perfect, imperfect star-crossed lovers - their story had me enthralled from the start

RUTH HOGAN, author of THE KEEPER OF LOST THINGS

Spellbinding, beautiful, lyrical and tender, Talking at Night is a dazzling debut. I loved every word and was left longing for more

ROSIE WALSH, bestselling author of THE MAN WHO DIDN'T CALL

So beautifully written and the way Daverley brings each character to life is so impressive. Everyone should read this book

A stunning debut about the complicated nature of love. Like the very best of Sally Rooney with added lashings of heart - I loved it. Claire Daverley has become an automatic must-read for me. A captivating, nuanced and beautiful debut.

This exquisitely woven tale of friendship, tragedy and modern romance captures readers right from its opening passages. Captivating . . . Reminiscent of David Nicholls' wonderful One Day. Enchanting. One of the book's real strengths is the beautiful, understated quality of Daverley's writing. Her prose shines and she nails every detail of this spellbinding love story without ever resorting to melodrama. Fans of Sally Rooney's Normal People will absolutely adore this tender, utterly charming and heart-wrenching tale

Included in 'Best Romantic Summer Reads'

The story of Will and Rosie is a classic love story in every sense, and yet, in Claire Daverley's hands, it felt entirely new. The characters are completely alive from the very first page, and how I rooted for them! Talking at Night could be titled Reading at Night, because I was awake through the night, turning these pages

MARY BETH KEANE, author of ASK AGAIN, YES

Writing that is laced with the quiet devastation of Sally Rooney. One of the very best literary love stories I've read. Utterly spellbinding

JULIE OWEN MOYLAN, author of THAT GREEN EYED GIRL

A classic will-they-won't-they in the vein of David Nicholls, this novel is impossible to put down. A story of secret night meetings and calls, sunrises and bonfires, quiet moments and heartbreaking missed opportunities. Impeccable dialogue and wonderful characters that will stay with you for a long time

This book kept me up all night! It's everything I want from a love story, the will they won't they, the romance, but also, there is the truthfulness of reality woven into it. This isn't just escapism, it is also full of heartbreak and human failings and mistakes. I loved it

I absolutely adored Talking at Night - it should be on everyone's must-read list. Beautiful, poignant and heart-wrenching

CARLEY FORTUNE, author of EVERY SUMMER AFTER

Talking at Night is a love story, certainly, but it's much more than that. I was rapt. I highly recommend this wonderful novel

[A] poignant debut is a haunting story of true love on a collision course with the random accidents of fate

If this isn't on your radar it should be. The chemistry. The longing. The gorgeous prose. An utterly captivating love story. Books like this don't come along often. Pre-order it now and thank me later

CARON MCKINLAY, author of THE STORYTELLERS

An achingly beautiful novel about the people who change us irrevocably. This novel will consume you

JILL SANTOPOLO, bestselling author of THE LIGHT WE LOST

Talking at Night is a transcendent marvel. Daverley's debut is aching and tender. . . the lush, complex characters reminded me of Sally Rooney's work.

AMANDA EYRE WARD, bestselling author of THE JETSETTERS

A beautifully written tale of the messily imperfect course that love takes

Clever, beautiful and romantic. An absolute gem

Evocative, intoxicating and basically impossible to put down. Like Normal People, it's a love story which feels so achingly real that you miss the characters when you stop reading

BOBBY PALMER, author of ISAAC AND THE EGG

I absolutely loved this book and I'm so jealous of everyone who's getting to read it for the first time. A summer read for the die-hard romantics. The characters in this book feel so real that you'll cry tears right alongside them. It's a 10/10 from me

This book is so gorgeously harrowing and romantic

A delicious treat. Prepare yourself to sink into this one, to be torn between reading fast and slow.

Moving and beautifully told...gave me One Day vibes

If you love really gentle, beautiful and very cleverly written love stories, then this is the book for you

The beauty of this book can be found in its simplicity and Claire's poetry-like prose . . . She weaves an enchanting tapestry of two lives that are drawn together in spite of best interests, and how cruel love can be.

Will and Rosie meet as teenagers. They're opposites in every way, but over secret walks home and late-night phone calls, they become closer, destined to be one another's great love story. 
 
Until, one day, tragedy strikes, and any possibility of them being together shatters. 
 
But that tragedy - and their history - is what will connect them forever...

Claire Daverley

Praise for Talking at Night

**A beautifully observed, tender love story with characters you really care about...a bit like Normal People. I devoured it**

Tender and true, this is a stunning debut with lyrical and emotional writing that reminded me at times of Sally Rooney

With shades of Sally Rooney, this is a lyrical, tender love story

**A beautifully observed, tender love story with characters you really care about...a bit like Normal People. I devoured it**

Tender and true, this is a stunning debut with lyrical and emotional writing that reminded me at times of Sally Rooney

With shades of Sally Rooney, this is a lyrical, tender love story

**A beautifully observed, tender love story with characters you really care about...a bit like Normal People. I devoured it**

Tender and true, this is a stunning debut with lyrical and emotional writing that reminded me at times of Sally Rooney

With shades of Sally Rooney, this is a lyrical, tender love story

Books by Claire Daverley

Articles featuring Claire Daverley

What were the best books of 2025?

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