-
See Our Summer
Books to Watch!
Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
Book Reviewed by:From "America's librarian" and NPR books commentator Nancy Pearl comes an emotionally riveting debut novel about an unlikely marriage at a crossroads.
George and Lizzie have radically different understandings of what love and marriage should be. George grew up in a warm and loving family - his father an orthodontist, his mother a stay-at-home mom - while Lizzie grew up as the only child of two famous psychologists, who viewed her more as an in-house experiment than a child to love.
Over the course of their marriage, nothing has changed - George is happy; Lizzie remains…unfulfilled. When a shameful secret from Lizzie's past resurfaces, she'll need to face her fears in order to accept the true nature of the relationship she and George have built over a decade together.
With pitch-perfect prose and compassion and humor to spare, George and Lizzie is an intimate story of new and past loves, the scars of childhood, and an imperfect marriage at its defining moments.
George and Lizzie put me in mind of long lazy chats with friends—slightly circular, occasionally random, but always entertaining. Beyond the novel's character studies, the plot is simple and wandering—much like many ordinary lives. The pleasure and tension is created organically by the interactions of two divergent personality types as well as real-life moments such as family changes, friends' blessings and struggles, and finding one's way in the world...continued
Full Review
(673 words)
(Reviewed by Sarah Tomp).
Although the focus of George and Lizzie by Nancy Pearl is their romantic relationship, I consider this novel to be a love story, not a romance. This distinction is arguably subjective and open for interpretation—perhaps rooted in literary snobbery—but as someone who appreciates both genres, this is how I discern the two.
Characters
As in many types of stories, characters are central to both love stories and romances. We need to be intrigued by and invested in them in order to fully appreciate their relationship. Characters in a romance may feel idealized in some way. They might have some type of flaw—but even this flaw is likely to be a strength in disguise. Love stories tend to have more deeply and authentically ...
If you liked George and Lizzie, try these:
by Emily Henry
Published 2025
Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping novel from Emily Henry.
by Kate Fagan
Published 2025
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins in this electric, voice-driven debut novel about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past.
.png)
I have lost all sense of home, having moved about so much. It means to me now only that place where the books are ...
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Cruel Beautiful World and Pictures of You
As sparkling as Prosecco, as jubilantly quirky and inventive a love story as you could ever want, and a jigsaw puzzle you never want to finish. If I could marry a novel, this wise, witty and rapturously inventive book would be it.
