Books to Read After Stephenie Meyer's Twilight
Classic Romance Novels Like the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer
Jul 23, 2009
Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series has captured the attention of millions of readers from around the world, and, thanks to Twilight's popularity, teen vampire lit has exploded. But for many fans of the series, Twilight's draw isn't supernatural blood-sucking. The hauntingly beautiful, breathtaking yet forbidden, literally eternal love between Edward Cullen and Bella Swan is what keeps readers hooked from Twilight through to Breaking Dawn and even Midnight Sun.
In an interview with Time Magazine, Meyer admits that she did not do any research or read any vampire fiction as she was intent on “creating [her] own world”. Instead, her series is informed by classic romance books, and Twilight echoes the all-consuming love found in these works.
So, for readers who think vampires suck, what's the next step?
Rebecca (1938) by Daphne DuMaurier
Set in the glamourous 1940s, Rebecca is rife with the sort of dark romance that makes Twilight so appealing. The young and unnamed narrator is a paid companion to a wealthy American vacationing in France. There, she meets Max de Winter, a rich English widower, and they fall so deeply in love that, just before the narrator is set to leave France, Max whisks her away to his manor where they are married. But the narrator's marriage isn't as happy as Edward and Bella's wedding: the memory of Max's first wife Rebecca haunts the house, Max, and even the narrator. The novel is deliciously tense and packed with suspense and passion that even Edward and Bella would find unbearable.
Wuthering Heights (1847) by Emily Bronte
Any Twilight fan will remember that this romantic classic is a favourite of Edward and Bella, and Meyer intentionally parallels Wuthering Heights in her series. Catherine and Heathcliffe, the Edward and Bella of the novel, have an intense, passionate, all-consuming, but forbidden love. Wuthering Heights does not allow Cathy and Heathcliffe a happily-ever-after, however. Cathy marries Edgar Linton, the counterpart to Jacob Black, even though she still loves Heathcliff, and Heathcliff is driven to revenge. Their love is so dark that it ultimately destroys them and all those around them and is so heartbreaking in its passion that the novel is absolutely unforgettable.
Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Bronte
Another book by a Bronte sister, Jane Eyre is one of the most famous English-language romance books. This novel follows the main character, plain Jane, from her childhood as an orphan to her time as a governess, where she meets and falls in love with her own Edward: Edward Rochester, a man who is brilliant, rich, and handsome but also cruel and domineering. Jane Eyre is romance, mystery and suspense at its finest and Bella and Edward are very clearly born from Jane and Mr. Rochester.
These are three of the best and most famous works of classic romance literature, but any list of classic love stories, like this one from About.com, will have many other novels filled with a dark passion that Twilight fans will drink up like vampires drink blood.
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