Hello! I really appreciate reading about different marriage and family relationship dynamics in books. I am looking for established married couples who rely on each other, Dom and Letty (Fast & Furious) ride or die power couple and family units (found or biological), the happy cute couple in the movie Up!, Merida's mum and dad from Brave, and the examples from these kinds of books:
- Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell: the multiple angles of how the children and adults of the family deal with grief, personal identities, and family role identities. This was incredibly touching. What a book.
- The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune: Arthur Parnassus as a ward, guardian, advocate, and parental figure to six orphaned magical children (antichrist, wyvern, gnome, sprite, shapeshifter, green blob). I am such an Arthur fan now.
- All Souls Series by Deborah Harkness: This had a great core couple with a mature (over 30 year old) relationship, male friendships, female friendships, friendships overall, a lesbian aunt couple, a powerful family matriarch, some complicated father-son relationship dynamics, inter-cultural/inter-species relationship dynamics. And witches, vampires, demons. Love these books so much.
- Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang: Misaki and Takeru Matsuda in an arranged marriage within a warrior clan steeped in time-honored tradition that doesn't bode well for male vulnerability or emotional intimacy; crisis management and positions of leadership act as a catalyst for them to look to each other for support and take on a power couple role in their family and community at large. I LOVED THIS!!
- Jade City (The Green Bone Saga) by Fonda Lee: WOW. Sort of Asian Godfather/Peaky Blinders/Warrior (show) world with martial arts and magic on an island kind of like Singapore. Very macho, rules and hierarchy, customs and tradition, honor and loyalty to your clan sort of deal with their culture. TWO WOMEN take positions of leadership within their clan, one is the wife and one is the sister of a prominent clan leader. And this clan leader fella is being a revolutionary by being the one that puts them in those positions of power—fully knowing, trusting, and having faith that they have everything it takes and the lady balls + fire power + fierce intelligence + heart these women bring to the table. By doing so, he starts a chain reaction in power dynamics and other changes in their family and culture at large. Freaking mind blooown.
I am soooo excited to see what y'all have to recommend!! Thank you!!
by Aethelinde