Christian love story or something of the sort

[naty2010]

I am searching for a book narrating a sentimental story, a story of a man and a woman of the same age knowing each other from their childhood (essential condition), and then falling in love and got married for living the rest of their life happy, but not like it would be in a standard romance novel or in a tearjerker. I want just a ‘normal life’ love story, something… very straight, without twisting and go away and come back, no burning passions, no other partners. In other words it should be a book about the life of two kind-hearted faithful persons loving each other in joy or sorrow, sickness or health, poverty or riches, honour and cherish as long as they both shall live.
Actually it’s been a long time since I started searching for it, but I couldn’t find anything of the kind.

Thanks in advance

[wat??]

Of Mice and Men - Jon Steinbeck

[Rores28]

I am searching for a book narrating a sentimental story, a story of a man and a woman of the same age knowing each other from their childhood (essential condition), and then falling in love and got married for living the rest of their life happy, but not like it would be in a standard romance novel or in a tearjerker. I want just a ‘normal life’ love story, something… very straight, without twisting and go away and come back, no burning passions, no other partners. In other words it should be a book about the life of two kind-hearted faithful persons loving each other in joy or sorrow, sickness or health, poverty or riches, honour and cherish as long as they both shall live.
Actually it’s been a long time since I started searching for it, but I couldn’t find anything of the kind.

Thanks in advance

Probably because that book would suck...

[YesNo]

Probably because that book would suck...

The book might suck but their life would be great. :)

[kelby_lake]

If you're looking for novels with devoted relationships, you're more likely to find it in children's classics.

[kiki1982]

I was actually going to agree on that! I mean, what's the point of a book if it does not highlight a problem? Otherwise there is no message to convey, is there?

I was going to mention Wuthering Heights, but that's too possessive for you, so I don't know any...

HOWEVER, this one just popped into my head:

What about The Black Tulip by Dumas? That is so quiet, so cute, so natural that it's almost pointless, really, but it's a novella (a novel about a certain time and its philosophy rather than a story in its ow right) so that's allowed.

[naty2010]

I was actually going to agree on that! I mean, what's the point of a book if it does not highlight a problem? Otherwise there is no message to convey, is there?


I don’t pretend the love story should be the main plot by all means. It could be an under-plot or probably the background story. The only thing I want is that the relationship has to be solid from the beginning to the end like it happens sometimes in real life. A man and a woman, knowing each other all the life, maybe resolving together a problem or doing the same work or withstanding troubles.


If you're looking for novels with devoted relationships, you're more likely to find it in children's classics.

I've tried with children books, with books for young people written in 19th Century, but... nothing.

[YesNo]

I don’t pretend the love story should be the main plot by all means. It could be an under-plot or probably the background story. The only thing I want is that the relationship has to be solid from the beginning to the end like it happens sometimes in real life. A man and a woman, knowing each other all the life, maybe resolving together a problem or doing the same work or withstanding troubles.
Perhaps Bob Cratchit's family in Dicken's A Christmas Carol? I've never read the book, but I've seen movie and play versions performed many times.

[kelby_lake]

I don’t pretend the love story should be the main plot by all means. It could be an under-plot or probably the background story. The only thing I want is that the relationship has to be solid from the beginning to the end like it happens sometimes in real life. A man and a woman, knowing each other all the life, maybe resolving together a problem or doing the same work or withstanding troubles.

Kitty and Levin's relationship in Anna Karenina seems pretty solid. But I've still got 200 pages to go so who knows what'll happen next...

[Seasider]

You could try Barbara Cartland. She always has happy endings and no real hanky-panky. I say this from no personal experience of the lady. What about Little Women? Didn't Meg have a very happy marriage? Not much to choose from...unending love with no glitches doesn't sell much.

[gruntingslime]

I was actually going to agree on that! I mean, what's the point of a book if it does not highlight a problem? Otherwise there is no message to convey, is there?

There could be a message related to the fact that there is no conflict... I think that would be a pretty strong message and a message probably never once used, because people are too stuck on the fascination with some terrible dilemma... The idea of people making good choices and working things out, sustaining their happiness and not falling victim to simple things like stress or empty depression, those are definitely some things I think I could learn from... no one else?

[Seasider]

Making mistakes and realising it is one of the best ways of learning.
People do not operate in a bubble. There are things that happen that no amount of virtue or planning can prevent. I am reading accounts of the London Tube Bombing...losing your life or the life of a loved one or being injured and mutilated happened just because of a choice to take one train rather than another. Discontent or dissatisfaction is one of the quickest ways to make social progress...most technology arises out of some perceived need. If we were totally happy and content in caves, we would still be there.

[kelby_lake]

You could try Barbara Cartland. She always has happy endings and no real hanky-panky. I say this from no personal experience of the lady. What about Little Women? Didn't Meg have a very happy marriage? Not much to choose from...unending love with no glitches doesn't sell much.

Yeah, Little Women. And probably the sequel Good Wives.

[wat??]

Kitty and Levin's relationship in Anna Karenina seems pretty solid. But I've still got 200 pages to go so who knows what'll happen next...

I was going to suggest this one, but Op is imposing all sorts of crazy conditions. There can't be any tragedy or anythi.... well I won't ruin it for you, but let me just say that there's tragedy.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I am searching for a book narrating a sentimental story, a story of a man and a woman of the same age knowing each other from their childhood (essential condition), and then falling in love and got married for living the rest of their life happy, but not like it would be in a standard romance novel or in a tearjerker. I want just a ‘normal life’ love story, something… very straight, without twisting and go away and come back, no burning passions, no other partners. In other words it should be a book about the life of two kind-hearted faithful persons loving each other in joy or sorrow, sickness or health, poverty or riches, honour and cherish as long as they both shall live.
Actually it’s been a long time since I started searching for it, but I couldn’t find anything of the kind.

Thanks in advance

May I ask why? I mean, conflict is an essential, if not the most essential, aspect of a story's plot. Why don't you want that?

[kelby_lake]

I was going to suggest this one, but Op is imposing all sorts of crazy conditions. There can't be any tragedy or anythi.... well I won't ruin it for you, but let me just say that there's tragedy.

Oh no, I know the ending :) But I just love Kitty and Levin :D

[L.M. The Third]

Sorry, but the book sounds rather pitiful... but.. if you can't find the book you want to read, then write it.

[naty2010]

There’s a lot of good books without any conflict, one of them I read not long ago: "Kristin Lavransdatter" by Sigrid Undset. No suspense, no particular story. The character lives her life and dies.
But I didn’t actually mean that there hasn’t to be a story or a conflict in the book I asked for. If there is an interesting one, it is even better. But A PART of the whole plot should be as I mentioned in my first message, i.e. there should be two characters, a man and a woman, who love each other in joy or sorrow, sickness or health, poverty or riches as long as they live.

[JuniperWoolf]

Lady Chatterley's Lover. Um, don't read about it beforehand or anything... you can trust me. FILLED with good Christian morals, it is.

[kelby_lake]

There’s a lot of good books without any conflict, one of them I read not long ago: "Kristin Lavransdatter" by Sigrid Undset. No suspense, no particular story. The character lives her life and dies.


There's always conflict, even if it's on a small scale.

[Seasider]

There’s a lot of good books without any conflict, one of them I read not long ago: "Kristin Lavransdatter" by Sigrid Undset. No suspense, no particular story. The character lives her life and dies.


I thought that was just life in Sweden until I read the Stieg Larsen trilogy...live your life and die. I know better now. Though I suppose that could be Iceland. It doesn't sound like my kind of book so I guess I'll never know.

[Whifflingpin]

How about "Chronicles of the Schonberg-Cotta Family" by Elizabeth Rundle Charles. From my memory, the family is stable & loving and Christian over a long period.
The conflict that previous posters have deemed necessary arises from external sources, in that the story is set in the time of the Reformation in Germany.