girlyswot

I’m not sure either of these are exactly it but they are the nearest I can think of. Ian McEwan’s Saturday was a book I found absolutely unputdownable, though nearly 20 years on, I’ve never re-read it and wouldn’t want to. Similarly, I found On Chesil Beach brilliant, though not something I return to.

Perhaps the other would be The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which I really do adore, though some people think of it as an anti-romance.