Best of 2025_1

Podcast

What were the best books of 2025?

Talking at Night

THE LOVE STORY THAT WILL KEEP YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT 
'A beautiful love story. I devoured it' JOJO MOYES 
'Gave me One Day vibes' LIBBY PAGE 
 
'Basically impossible to put down' BOBBY PALMER 
 
'Deeply romantic' LAURA BARNETT 
'Beautiful and very clever’ FEARNE COTTON 
 
'A perfect thing . . . I implore you to read it' CHRIS WHITAKER 
'Stunning, tender and true' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING SUMMER READING 
'Everyone should read this book' SHEERLUXE 
INCLUDED IN THE INDEPENDENT'S 'BEST ROMANTIC SUMMER READS' 
---- 
 Will and Rosie meet as teenagers. 
 They're opposites in every way. She overthinks everything; he is her twin brother's wild and unpredictable friend. 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 their future together is shattered. 
 But as the years roll on, Will and Rosie can't help but find their way back to each other. Time and again, they come close to rekindling what might have been. 
 What do you do when the one person you should forget is the one you just can't let go? 
 
 ---- 
 'Basically impossible to put down' BOBBY PALMER 
 'Deeply romantic' LAURA BARNETT 
 
 'A passionate, page-turning debut' DAILY MAIL 
 Readers love Talking at Night: 
‘This was giving me One Day vibes’ ***** Reader Review 
‘This book changed my way of thinking about life; that’s how good it was, how real it felt. It made me sit down, think about my own life for a second’ ***** Reader Review 
‘The writing is so spare and achingly beautiful and reminded me a lot of Normal People by Sally Rooney’***** Reader Review 
‘Everything I wanted and more. THE YEARNING.. stunning’ ***** Reader Review 
‘Made me believe in soulmates!’ ***** Reader Review 
‘A wonderfully captivating, character-driven novel’ ***** Reader Review 
‘You know how some books have you giggling and kicking your feet? this one has you fighting the urge to punch holes in the walls while screaming, thrashing, and gnawing at the bars of this story’s enclosure’ ***** Reader Review

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.

Claire Daverley was born in 1991 and has been writing stories ever since she was six years old, inspired by art and film and her many trips to the library. 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, on trains, and in the light of the early mornings. She has spent most of her life in Hertfordshire, but now lives in Scotland with her husband and spaniel. 
 
Her debut novel, Talking at Night, has sold in twenty-two languages to date.

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

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

PEOPLE IN LOVE is magnificent. Claire Daverley is uniquely alert to the texture of a life, both internal and external, and renders it in such detail that one has the pleasure of fully inhabiting her characters. Not only their days—their living rooms and kitchens—but also their families, their memories, and their hearts. Daverley writes with wisdom, kindness, and humour about the glory and pain of love in all its forms. I am particularly admiring of the depth and complexity of her characters and of the beauty she finds in their humanity.

EMMA KNIGHT, author of THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE COMMON OCTOPUS

People in Love is pure heartache, pure poetry, pure, brilliant moonbeam Claire Daverley. The revelations in this novel glow like opals: fiery, clear, milky, the way life is. I couldn't wait to see what would happen, even though I never wanted it to end.

CATHERINE NEWMAN, NYT bestselling author of SANDWICH

No one writes love like Claire Daverley. Yearning drips from her books like honey but her stories, although always achingly romantic, are anything but predictable.

Daverley is tender and compelling. People in Love is a wistful love story that grapples with the conflict between reality and idealism.

Claire Daverley - queen of tugging at heart strings - has done it again with People In Love. A story full of warmth and tenderness that examines what form true adult love takes and reaches a refreshing conclusion.

Claire Daverley has Maggie O’Farrell’s ability to render human beings, their relationships and their flaws so vividly that you want to reach out and comfort them. A really beautiful book, brimming over with heart and heartbreak and everything in between. Have tissues to hand.

Tender, wise, deeply satisfying and so beautifully written - I adored this gorgeous, grown up love story.

People in Love is dazzling: it heartbreakingly romantic, exquisitely told and so wise on the small decisions that can dictate a life. It has one of the best endings I’ve ever read. Claire Daverley is now a must-read author for me.

CLARE LESLIE HALL, author of BROKEN COUNTRY

I ADORED this novel. A grown-up love story that delves into matters of the human heart with such nuance and insight. Claire's prose is so finely woven that every beautifully honed sentence immerses you fully into the emotional dilemmas of her characters. I stayed up until the early hours reading it. It deserves to be a huge hit’

Yet more beautiful, lyrical, sledgehammer-to-the-heart writing. PEOPLE IN LOVE is a tender and nuanced novel that you will steal away hours to read, called back by its cast of gloriously warm and flawed characters, and the ramifications of how they try to love one another.

The author of Talking at Night returns with a love triangle story perfect for poolside reading

A tender story about a love triangle and how unspoken feelings can shape our life decisions

Tender, wise, deeply satisfying and so beautifully written – I adored this gorgeous, grown-up love story

Claire Daverley

Praise for People in Love

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

PEOPLE IN LOVE is magnificent. Claire Daverley is uniquely alert to the texture of a life, both internal and external, and renders it in such detail that one has the pleasure of fully inhabiting her character ...

People in Love is pure heartache, pure poetry, pure, brilliant moonbeam Claire Daverley. The revelations in this novel glow like opals: fiery, clear, milky, the way life is. I couldn't wait to see what ...

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

PEOPLE IN LOVE is magnificent. Claire Daverley is uniquely alert to the texture of a life, both internal and external, and renders it in such detail that one has the pleasure of fully inhabiting her character ...

People in Love is pure heartache, pure poetry, pure, brilliant moonbeam Claire Daverley. The revelations in this novel glow like opals: fiery, clear, milky, the way life is. I couldn't wait to see what ...

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

PEOPLE IN LOVE is magnificent. Claire Daverley is uniquely alert to the texture of a life, both internal and external, and renders it in such detail that one has the pleasure of fully inhabiting her character ...

People in Love is pure heartache, pure poetry, pure, brilliant moonbeam Claire Daverley. The revelations in this novel glow like opals: fiery, clear, milky, the way life is. I couldn't wait to see what ...

Books by Claire Daverley

Articles featuring Claire Daverley

What were the best books of 2025?

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter