This Love
A Novel
Lotte Jeffs
432 Pages
On-Sale Date: 14/01/2025
ISBN: 9780063424364
Trim Size: 5.250in x 7.900in x 1.200in
An Autostraddle and Electric Literature Most Anticipated Queer Book
“We’re calling it… Lotte Jeffs’ novel is the new One Day.” —Sunday Times Style Magazine
An utterly charming and modern debut novel spanning ten years of extraordinary friendship, about soulmates, unconventional families, and the limitless, ever-changing forms love can take.
When Mae and Ari meet outside a crowded gay bar during their final year of university, their connection is instant, sparking a lifetime friendship. Stubborn and no stranger to breaking hearts, Mae needs Ari’s bright light to guide her out of her self-centered ways. Reeling from a scandal in New York, vibrant, charming Ari sees Mae as an anchor keeping him grounded.
Though they are young, ambitious, and queer, both Mae and Ari secretly daydream about settling down somewhere with a garden, children, and dogs, building a life that feels like home. They make a pact: somehow, some day, they will have a child together.
In the decades that follow, Ari and Mae realize that fulfilling their promise will not be as simple as they once hoped. Navigating toxic partners and hidden secrets, combatting the heavy weight of grief, and relishing the spoils of flashy media careers, the two struggle to reconcile their ever-diverging paths. Although nothing goes quite to plan, Ari and Mae—alongside their dearest friends and lovers—come to realize that the messy, devoted, tight-knit family they could build together might be better than anything they could have ever imagined.
Page-turning, emotionally evocative, and bursting with wit and charm, This Love is a testament to the power of friendship and a love letter to family—however it’s formed.
“Reminiscent of Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe, Mae and Ari have an immediate and incandescent connection that defies categorization. It’s a sincere pleasure to watch this richly rendered, embodied, and deeply queer cast of characters crash headlong into each other and be transformed.” — Emma Copley Eisenberg, author of Housemates and The Third Rainbow Girl
“Lyrical, meandering, and astute, This Love is a love letter to what friendship can be, and what a novel can do. — Chloé Caldwell, author of Women
“[A] heartfelt examination of found family.” — Booklist (starred review)
“A beautifully wrought, tender, funny, and wholly original story about the magic that happens when friends become family. I was totally immersed in the characters and their world, and started missing them the moment I finished reading.” — Gabrielle Korn, author of Yours for the Taking and The Shutouts
“This Love had me deep in my feelings. Lotte Jeffs is the real deal, and many writers will, justifiably, never forgive her for creating such a tender, engrossing, and unforgettable debut.” — Ruth Madievsky, author of All-Night Pharmacy
“One Day for a new generation” — Grazia
“Astute, tender and utterly joy filled. This is the love story we’ve been waiting for.” — ELLE UK
“Anchored by complicated real-world challenges, this novel explores the weight of secrets, toxic partnerings, grief and desire all whilst celebrating the greatest love in so many lives, friendship.”
— London Evening Standard
“A beautifully written, generous-hearted, clever, tender, fresh and unputdownable novel about queerness, family and forgiveness. I loved This Love.” — Elizabeth Day, author of Sunday Times #1 Bestseller Friendaholic
“The best parts of Sally Rooney and Gabrielle Zevin merge for this exquisitely paced, modern yet timeless story of love and friendship . . . Pitch perfect, I adored this completely absorbing and compulsive gem.” — John Marrs, author of The Good Samaritan
“Incredible . . . a beautiful book full of emotion that will stay with me for a long time.” — Nina Pottell, Books Editor at Prima
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised if This Love was my book of 2024. The world-building and storytelling is exquisite, the characters so real, the plot perfect. I’m madly jealous of everyone who hasn’t read it yet.” — Laura Pearson, author of The Last List of Mabel Beaumont
“Bursting with queer joy and tenderness, This Love is original, compelling and totally gorgeous. An immensely enjoyable ode to the extraordinary power of friendship and forging your own kind of family. I adored it.” — Roxy Bourdillon, DIVA magazine
“I had a whirlwind romance with this book. Rarely have I seen myself so clearly in literature. Safe to say I loved it.” — Suzi Ruffell, comedian
“An intensely readable novel about all the love that doesn’t fit inside society’s neat boundaries.” — Laura Bates, author of Fix the System, Not the Women
“This Love is everything you want from a novel, it’s funny, sexy, and moving. It’s a book full of queer joy that lets us imagine all the hopeful possibilities in the word ‘family’.” — Claire Lynch, author of small: on motherhoods
“This is a book I will return to again and again. I finished it in the early hours of the morning and was bereft. It’s about relationships, our concept of family, what soulmate means . . . I could go on! It’s beautiful.” — Jennie Godfrey, author of Sunday Times Bestseller The List of Suspicious Things
“This Love is a brilliantly rich portrayal of family—both the one we are born into and the one we must find, forge and fight for no matter the cost. I fell so deeply for its messy, glorious characters and their passionate pursuit of love, be it romantic, platonic or the kind of soul-mate connection that belies traditional definition. Jeffs has created a world so vivid, I felt I was living in it and was immediately bereft when I turned the last page.” — Amy Beashel, author of Spilt Milk and The Sky is Mine
“Appealingly breezy, emotionally attuned prose.”
— Daily Mail (UK)
“A tender and heartfelt exploration of love in all its forms.”
— Amazon (UK)
“We’re calling it… Lotte Jeffs’ novel is the new One Day.” — Sunday Times Style Magazine