Skip to content
Bookworm
All gift ideas

Books for Her

These eight books suit a wife or girlfriend who likes a story with feeling in it. They run from Hollywood glamour and a rock-band novel to a summer romance, a myth retelling and a memoir.

Gift ideas

  • The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

    Taylor Jenkins Reid

    A Hollywood icon invites an unknown journalist to write her life story and tells of her seven marriages. Glamorous, emotional and hard to put down.

    Books like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

  • Daisy Jones & the Six

    Taylor Jenkins Reid

    The rise and breakup of a fictional 1970s rock band, told in interview-style chapters. Fast and atmospheric, for a reader who loves music.

  • Beach Read

    Emily Henry

    A romance writer and a literary novelist next door agree to swap genres for the summer. Sweet and funny, with real grief underneath.

  • Big Little Lies

    Liane Moriarty

    Three mothers at a school near Sydney get tangled in gossip, secrets and a death at a trivia night. Sharp, funny and gripping.

  • The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

    V.E. Schwab

    A young woman in 1714 France makes a bargain for endless life, and the cost is that nobody remembers her. A sweeping, wistful fantasy for a romantic reader.

  • Circe

    Madeline Miller

    The witch of Greek myth narrates her long life, starting with her exile on an island. A lyrical retelling for anyone who likes myth.

    Books like Circe

  • Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

    Gail Honeyman

    A Glasgow office worker with a strict routine and few friends is drawn out of it by a kind colleague. Funny, then moving, with a painful past underneath.

  • Educated

    Tara Westover

    Tara Westover grows up in a survivalist family in Idaho without going to school and later earns a doctorate. A powerful true story about changing your life.

    Books like Educated

How to choose

Start with what she has enjoyed lately. For glossy, fast stories, choose The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo or Daisy Jones & the Six. Beach Read is the light romance, and Big Little Lies is a funny page-turner with a dark center. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is warm with a serious side. For something more ambitious, try The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue or Circe, and Educated is the memoir.

A few of these are heavy, so read this before wrapping. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo touches on domestic abuse, Daisy Jones & the Six on addiction, and Big Little Lies on domestic violence and rape. Circe contains sexual assault, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine deals with childhood trauma, and Educated describes family violence.

Want something more personal?

Tell Bookworm what they like and what they don't, and get a short list chosen for them.

Get picks tailored to them

More gift ideas

Browse by mood