If you are looking for a heartwarming experience, then you really need to look no further than a book about friendship. Friendship is a common theme in a variety of different genres of books, from fantasy novels to romance novels.
So, if you are looking for a book about friendship, there are a lot of different novels to choose from. In this guide, I’ve compiled a list of 42 of the best books about friendship that are guaranteed to warm your heart.
Some of these novels are sad, others are happy, but all of them have strong themes of friendship throughout. Read on to find out more!
It is the tale of two African American women in early twentieth-century Georgia who were separated as girls, but these sisters keep in touch through a series of letters.
This novel is a great example of how friendship doesn’t have to be reserved for people who you aren’t connected with through blood. Your family can be friends too, and that is highlighted by the sisters in this novel.
Pros
Very meaningful.
Incredibly well-written.
Perfect length – 300 pages.
Cons
Not suitable for those who don’t like historical fiction.
Another great story about friendship is It by Stephen King. This novel is best known for being a horror novel, but at the heart of the plot is a group of friends.
It tells the story of a group of adults who return to the town that they once grew up in to confront an evil that they first met as teenagers.
When they first defeated that evil as a group of teenagers, the friends vowed that they would return if the evil returned. So that is how this group of adults, with lives, careers, and families, return to their hometown.
There is no denying that It is a long book, and it isn’t for the faint-hearted. But it is a beautiful story of friendship, and definitely, one that you should read.
If you are looking for a classic novel all about friendship, look no further than The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
This novel was first published in 1911, but the themes of friendship explored in this book are just as important now as they were over a century ago.
The Secret Garden is a truly beautiful novel, and while it is aimed at children, it can easily be enjoyed by people of all ages. So be sure to check it out!
For any lovers of historical fiction, The Familiars by Stacey Hall is perfect. This novel is based in England in the 1600s when the hunt for witches is more fierce than ever before, to a point where simply being a woman puts you at risk.
This tale tells the story of a woman with a pregnancy that could kill her, and a woman who can deliver her birthday safely, but may lose her life after accusations of being a witch.
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry is one of the most amazing best friend-to-lovers novels out there, and it is an excellent tale of friendship.
This novel follows Poppy and Alex who are polar opposites but have been best friends forever. They live very different lives, and for the most part, they don’t see each other throughout the year.
Alex lives in their hometown, and Poppy lives in New York. But every summer they go on vacation together. But two years ago, something happened that led them to stop speaking.
In a bid to save their friendship, Poppy reaches out and asks Alex on one last vacation. Can it save their relationship? Or is their friendship doomed forever?
Pros
Super cute read.
A perfect novel to read in the summer.
A great choice for fans of friends-to-lovers novels.
Alice Oseman’s graphic novel, Heartstopper is a touching coming-of-age novel about Charlie and Nick. These two have been in school together for years, but they have never met. Until one day when they’re made to sit beside one another.
After that one meeting, Charlie and Nick’s lives change forever. They quickly become friends, and soon after, Charlie falls in love with Nick, despite not thinking he has a chance with him.
But love works in mysterious ways, and Charlie might have more of a chance than he realized.
This novel not only explores the friendship between Charlie and Nick but also how their relationship can progress because of the friends that they have around them. Friendship is a key theme in Heartstopper, which is why you should check it out.
Another great novel to check out if you are interested in LGBTQ+ novels about friendship is One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston. One Last Stop follows 23-year-old, August, who has moved to NYC to prove herself right.
She is a firm believer that happy-ever-afters only exist in movies, and that the only way to go through life is to be alone. But that all changes when she meets the woman of her dreams, Jane, on her subway commute.
This story is so much more than just a love story, and throughout it all, friendship is an integral theme in the novel. That is why you really need to check out this novel if you are looking for a book about friendship.
Pros
An adorable love story.
Very well-written.
An interesting take on the traditional love story.
Harry Potter is potentially one of the most popular book series in the world, and throughout the novels, the friendship of Harry, Ron, and Hermione is integral to J.K. Rowling’s series.
The first novel in the series – titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – follows Harry’s arrival at Hogwarts and his first meeting with Ron and Hermione. The first novel in this series is really about setting the scene for the novels that follow.
But it is in this book that we really see the friendship between the three main characters grow.
Throughout the entire series, the friendship between Harry, Ron, and Hermione holds the group together, and it is this friendship that supports Harry’s journey.
It is an excellent example of friendship and a book that you should definitely read!
If you are searching for a horror novel with friendship at the center, then you should check out The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.
This novel tells the story of Patricia Campbell whose circle is incredibly small – her husband is at work all the time, her teenagers have grown up, and her senile mother needs constant care.
The only thing that keeps her sane is her true-crime book club and the friends that she has made there. After book club one night, Patricia is attacked by her elderly neighbor, and that’s when she meets her neighbor’s nephew, James.
She connects with him instantly, but soon figures out that there is more to James than meets the eye, and that he’s a monster of a different kind.
But she’s already invited him into her life, and her friends at the book club will become more important than ever before.
Queenie tells the story of the title character – Queenie – and her life as a Jamaican British woman living in London. Straddling two cultures, Queenie navigates her life as things start to fall apart.
There is no denying that the main plot of this novel is Queenie’s life and her struggles as a Jamaican British woman living in a predominantly white area.
But, throughout the novel, Queenie is supported by her friends, and it is ultimately those friendships that allow her to get her life back on track.
This novel contains adult themes so wouldn’t be suitable for younger readers, but it is an excellent novel that I’m sure you’ll love!
Zadie Smith has won a whole host of awards for her novels, and Swing Time is another excellent novel by this author. This book tells the story of two young women who dream of being dancers.
The only issue with that is that only one of them has talent, and the other one only has ideas. Throughout childhood, these two best friends remain close, despite how complicated their friendship is.
But it comes to a head in their early twenties, and the two stop speaking. But they never forget each other. In this novel that moves from London to West Africa, friendship is the central theme, and that is why you should give it a read.
When you were in high school, you may have read Holes by Louis Sachar. Likewise, you may have watched the movie adaptation of this novel. Regardless, this book is an excellent novel about friendship.
Holes tells the story of Stanley Yelnats, a boy who is living with a family curse cast upon them by the actions of his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather.
Since then the family has been cursed, and Stanley blames that curse for landing him in a boy’s detention center – Camp Green Lake. Every single day, the boys at Camp Green Lake are made to dig holes that are 5 feet deep and 5 feet wide.
There is no lake at Camp Green Lake, but there are a lot of holes and a lot of friendship. It is that friendship that makes this novel such an excellent read.
In Five Years is a love story with a twist. You expect this novel to be a love story, but ultimately, it is a novel of friendship. Dannie and Bella are complete opposites of each other.
Dannie lives her life by numbers, with a perfect job and a perfect long-term boyfriend. Bella chases her wanderlust, with a bad track record when it comes to relationships and no plans of settling down.
Despite their opposites, they are the best of friends. While there is a romantic plot in In Five Years, ultimately this novel is a story about friendship, and that is why you should check it out!
Friendship is often intergenerational, and that is a theme that is explored in The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.
In 1949, four young Chinese women who had newly immigrated to the USA began to meet up in San Francisco to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk.
United by loss and hope, they called themselves The Joy Luck Club. Forty years after they first started meeting, the conversations still continued.
The Joy Luck Club is a breathtakingly beautiful novel that explores a whole host of important themes. It is a touching read with friendship at its heart throughout the novel.
By this point, Little Women is such a classic novel that there really isn’t much for me to tell you about it. However, there is no denying that this is a great novel about friendship.
Little Women tells the story of sisters Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. This novel follows these 4 sisters through childhood into adulthood and focuses on their friendship throughout the novel.
Louisa May Alcott aimed this novel at girls, but since it was first released over 150 years ago, this novel has become incredibly popular. So no matter your age or gender, I’m confident you’ll love this tale of friendship.
Wonder by R.J. Palacio is a middle-grade novel that was adapted into a movie that was released in 2017. Despite being aimed at younger readers, Wonder is a novel that everybody should read, regardless of their age.
This novel follows Augustus Pullman – Augie – who was born with a facial difference that caused his parents to keep him from mainstream school. But when he reaches 5th grade, his parents decide to introduce him to school.
All Augie wants is to be treated as a normal kid, but his classmates cannot get past his face. Wonder starts off in Augie’s perspective, and then it switches between his classmates, his sister, and her boyfriend to gain other points of view.
It is a novel that is heartwarming, heartbreaking, and funny. But ultimately, it is a novel of strength, and how friends allow Augie to adjust to his new surroundings and allow him to be a normal kid.
Big Little Lies is perhaps now more famous as the TV series starring Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, and Meryl Streep. But the novel that this series is based on is definitely worth the read.
Big Little Lies is a tale of friendship, and how three very different women with very different lives ultimately cross paths and find themselves in the same shocking place.
Liane Moriarty is a genius when it comes to creating a backstory before a massive plot twist, and at the heart of the backstory in this novel is the friendship between the three women.
For any lovers of thrillers and suspense novels, Big Little Lies is perfect. The friendships that are explored in this novel are just a bonus.
When John Green’s novel The Fault In Our Stars was first published, it broke the hearts of many. While it is a love story, it is also a story of friendship. At the heart of this story is the romance between Hazel and Augustus.
But something else that is very important to the plot of this novel is the friendship between the couple and Isaac.
Isaac and Augustus are close friends throughout the novel, and after the plot plays out, Isaac and Hazel become close friends too.
There are some hard-hitting themes explored throughout this novel, and friendship is critical to surviving the hardships that these teenagers face. Ultimately, without friends, this plot would not play out the way that it does.
Like many novels about friendship, Firefly Lane tells the story of two unlikely friends – Kate and Tully. Starting in high school, Kate has accepted that she is totally uncool.
But that all changes when the coolest girl in the year moves into the house across from her and wants to become friends.
That unlikely friendship between Kate and Tully lasts through high school and far into their adult lives, where they live very different lifestyles, but are anchored by their friendship.
In Firefly Lane the friendship between Kate and Tully is challenged by life. Will the two be willing to fight for their friendship? Or has it run its course? This novel explores it all.
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson went on to become an incredibly popular movie, but the novel is still worth a read. Bridge to Terabithia is a short story aimed at those aged 9+, and it is a tale of friendship.
No matter whether you read this as a child or in adulthood, the plot will resonate with you. It is a tragic tale about friendship and losing that friendship, but it is still an incredibly important read.
If you haven’t read Bridge to Terabithia yet, I would definitely recommend reading it.
Another great tale of friendship, aimed at older readers, is Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Eleanor Oliphant struggles with social skills, so she avoids social interactions.
Her weekends are punctuated by staying in, eating frozen pizza, drinking vodka, and having phone chats with her Mummy. Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine, and nobody has ever told her that life can be anything other than that.
When she meets the unhygienic IT guy from her office, and they end up saving an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the side of the road, an unlikely friendship forms between the three.
This friendship benefits them all in different ways, and through it, Eleanor learns that she can be so much more than completely fine.
Quite a few novels on this list include friendship as a background theme, but in Us Three by Ruth Jones, friendship is the main plot of this book.
In this novel, Ruth Jones uses her immense writing talents to tell the story of three friends who embark on the trip of a lifetime together.
Best friends forever, that trip brought the three girls closer than ever before, and their friendship has extended into adulthood. But an unexpected turn of events rocks their friendship to the core. Will they be able to work past it?
Or is their friendship ruined forever? This novel explores the highs and lows of friendships and does so in a very beautiful way.
Dogs are often described as man’s best friend, and that is why Marley and Me is an excellent novel about friendship. Marley and Me documents a couple whose life is changed forever when they adopt a Labrador puppy that they name, Marley.
It is a beautiful novel that is guaranteed to make you cry, especially if you have ever had a pet dog. But it is a novel all about unconditional love and the friendship that dogs offer to their humans.
Pros
A fun yet touching novel.
Relatable for anyone who has ever had a dog.
Beautifully written.
Cons
Some outdated training techniques are referenced in the book.
Another brilliant novel about friendship that will warm your heart is Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.
On a cold day in December during his junior year at college, Sam Masur exits a Subway car and sees Sadie Green. He calls out to her, she doesn’t hear him at first, and then she turns to look at him.
On that very day, a game begins between them. A legendary game collaboration that will transport them to stardom. By the time they graduate college, these friends have created their first Blockbuster, Ichigo, and overnight the world is theirs.
But they are also very young, and the challenges that come from being in your mid-twenties will challenge their relationship in ways they never thought possible throughout this novel about friendship.
Almost all the novels in this list are fiction novels but Text Me When You Get Home is a novel written by journalist Kayleen Schaefer about friendship in the modern world.
Throughout this book, Schaefer challenges the idea that women are terrible at being friends, and through interviews with different friendship groups, she looks at all how women actually make the best friends.
She explores the different ways in which women reflect their love for one another, and it really is an interesting read. If you want a novel about friendship that isn’t fictional, then Text Me When You Get Home is the book to pick up.
Leah Johnson’s novel, You Should See Me in a Crown is perfect for anyone looking for a young adult novel about friendship. This novel tells the story of Liz Lighty, a girl who has never felt good enough in her small town.
But she has a plan to get out of there and to shine, and that plan involves attending an uber-elite college, playing in a world-famous orchestra, and becoming a doctor.
But when those plans go awry, she instead sets her sights on becoming prom queen. In this story of friendship, empowerment, and growth, ultimately you should see Liz in a crown!
Throughout her career, Jodi Picoult has written some truly beautiful novels, and The Pact is one of them. If you are looking for a novel about friendship, this is the one to read.
The Pact tells the story of the Golds and the Hartes who have been neighbors for 18 years, and best friends for just as long. So it is no surprise that their children have become incredibly close too.
In high school, the friendship between their children grows into something more. But that all starts to unravel when a tragedy occurs that threatens their friendship forever.
This novel tells a story of friendship and the heartbreak that these two families go through. It is a beautiful novel and one that you will definitely benefit from reading!
Another incredibly talented author that explores themes of friendship throughout her novels is Jojo Moyes. One of her best books with friendship as a theme is The Giver of Stars.
The Giver of Stars tells the story of a woman who marries a handsome American to escape her life in rural England.
But her new life in Kentucky quickly becomes suffocating, and living alongside her overbearing father-in-law just makes it more claustrophobic.
So when there is a call to work for a traveling library, Alice Wright jumps at the opportunity to escape, and along the way she makes a lot of new friends.
This novel is a little different from some of the other novels by Jojo Moyes, but it is just as beautiful. It is a beautiful tale of friendship and one that I’m sure you will love!
If you are active on BookTok or Bookstagram, then you will know that many people have credited A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara as the book that broke their hearts. This long book covers a lot of different themes, but at the heart of it all is friendship.
A Little Life tells the story of 4 college classmates who become friends and move to New York to chase fame and fortune. Their relationships are tinged by success, pride, addiction, and so much more.
But they are held together by Jude, an enigmatic man scarred by childhood trauma. This is an incredibly long novel, and through it all, the reader is taken on a journey.
You see these friends take on new challenges, as their bond grows throughout the novel. It is a beautiful tale of friendship and one that I’m certain you’ll love.
Another beautiful novel about friendship that you should really check out is Mornings With Rosemary by Libby Page. Her entire life, Rosemary has lived in Brixton, London. But suddenly everything is changing.
The library where she once worked has closed, the grocery store has become a bar, and the swimming pool where she has swum every day is threatened by closure from a local housing developer.
When she meets Kate, a writer assigned to write a piece about the pool’s closure, Rosemary makes a friend that she never could have imagined.
Will these newfound friends be able to keep the pool open? Or is Rosemary doomed to lose the one thing left in the area she calls home?
A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman has recently been adapted into a movie starring Tom Hanks titled A Man Called Otto. It is a beautiful tale of finding friendship in unlikely circumstances.
Ove is a grumpy old man, he’s staunch in his principles, stuck in his routines, and likely to blow a fuse at any given moment. He’s referred to as the “neighbor from hell” by those who live in his area.
But all that changes when a young couple with 2 chatty daughters moves in beside him. These new neighbors bring out a new side in Ove and a friendship forms between them that nobody could have seen coming.
A Man Called Ove is an interesting take on the friendship theme, and one unlike any of the other novels in this guide. That is why I would recommend giving it a read.
If there is anyone who likes novels based during the early twentieth century, and throughout the World Wars, then Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein is made for them.
This novel follows a British spy plane that crashes in Nazi-occupied France in 1943. The plane carries a pilot and a passenger, both of whom are best friends. One survives the crash, but the other sadly doesn’t.
When “Verity” is captured by the Gestapo she is sure she doesn’t have a chance of surviving.
But throughout this novel, we see “Verity” weave a confession, uncover her past, and recount how she and the plane’s pilot – Maddie – became friends. Friendship is at the heart of this novel, even if one of the friends isn’t there to see it.
Sally Rooney has written some incredibly good novels in her writing career, and Conversations With Friends is a great one to read if you want a novel about friendship.
Conversations With Friends focuses on best friends – Frances and Bobbi. One day, the friends meet a well-known photographer, and they are drawn into her world.
But as Frances enters her world, she becomes enamored with the photographer’s husband, Nick. Soon a new friendship forms, a friendship that could lead to so much more…
Sally Rooney is incredibly talented at what she does, and this novel with the theme of friendship is truly beautiful. So you really should check it out!
Pros
Very well written.
Incredibly easy to read.
Characters you connect with.
Cons
Sally Rooney’s writing style takes some getting used to.
This classic novel about the American dream is one that most people will read at some point in their lives, and it is an excellent story of friendship. Of Mice and Men tells the story of two unlikely friends – George and Lennie.
In the face of loneliness, these two laborers have formed a family, and they would do anything to protect one another.
When they land a job on a ranch, the American dream of an acre of land and a shack suddenly seems within reach, but not even George can protect child-like Lennie from the dangers of flirtatious women and jealous husbands.
This novel is heartbreaking, and explores some incredibly important themes, with friendship at the heart. You really need to read it if you haven’t already!
Pros
Super short – just over 100 pages.
Important themes.
Aimed at younger readers.
Cons
An old novel with some outdated themes and language.
Some of the best novels about friendship are aimed at children, and Charlotte’s Web is another example of this. Charlotte’s Web is told from the point of view of a spider who lives on a web high up in Zuckerman’s Barn.
It tells of her feelings toward a pig called Wilbur, and how Wilbur longs for a friend. It also tells the story of Fern, a young girl who saved Wilbur’s life when he was born as the runt of the litter.
While it is a short book, Charlotte’s Web explores friendship in depth throughout the novel. If you didn’t read this as a child, you really need to check it out!
Another great coming-of-age tale of friendship is The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. This novel focuses on the “wallflower” – Charlie – and his observations through adolescence into adulthood.
As Charlie ages and experiences new things, he grows as a person and becomes an adult. Ultimately, it is the small group of friends that he has around him that are integral to him becoming the person he will be at the end of the book.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a stunning novel about friendship, nostalgia, and growth. It is a modern-day classic and one that you really need to check out.
The Body by Stephen King is an excellent novella about friendship, and it actually went on to become one of the most famous movies ever made about friendship – Stand by Me.
The Body is a coming-of-age novel about a group of 12-year-old friends who go on a quest to find the body of a missing boy from the next town over, along the railroads that lead out of their town.
Along the journey, this group of friends comes to terms with the harsh reality of death and growing up in a town where future prospects are slim.
This novel is a short story, but it is beautifully written, and definitely one that you need to eat at some point in your lifetime. Especially if you were a fan of Stand By Me.
Bernadine Evaristo is an incredibly talented novel, and her book Girl, Woman, Other is perfect for anybody looking for a novel about friendship. This multi-voiced novel tells the story of 12 central characters who live very different lives.
Despite living very different lives, these 12 characters are tied together through the different friendships that connect them with one another.
This novel is an incredibly important book, and that is why it won the Booker Prize in 2019. So, if you are looking for a book about friendship, this is a great one to read!
Pros
Well-developed storyline.
Booker prize-winning novel.
Excellent representation of minorities throughout the novel.
Another great novel about friendship is the Friend Zone by Abby Jiminez.
This novel focuses on Kristin Peterson who would do anything to protect her friends, including keeping a big secret about a medical procedure that will make her infertile from them.
As Kristin is going through this huge personal struggle, she’s also planning her best friend’s wedding, and that is where she meets the man of her dreams.
Throughout this novel, friendship is a central theme, and just how much Kristin will do for her friends. It is a beautiful book with some very important themes throughout, which is why you should read it.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares is a very important series of novels that are all about friendship. This novel tells the story of 4 friends who simply fit together.
They just work as a friendship group, and they are as close as can be. It is also the story of a pair of pants, just a regular pair of jeans, that went on to do great things. Without the group of 4 friends, those pants would have just been regular pants.
Until you read this novel, it is really difficult to understand the plot. But once you read the first novel, you’ll be hooked on this series and this tale of 4 friends.
Finally, you should check out My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante which, as the name suggests, is a book about friendship.
This novel about two women from Naples went on to become an HBO series, and it is also part of the Neapolitan Novels series by the same author.
This series follows Lila and Elena throughout their lives as they become women, then wives, then mothers, and so on. This first novel focuses on childhood through to adolescence.
Throughout life, the one constant is their friendship, and that is the main focus of this series.
My Brilliant Friend is a beautiful book about friendship, and how important it is to have good friends around you. So if you are looking for a book about friendship, this is perfect.
Pros
Excellent plot.
Great length, around 300 pages.
A series of novels that follows friendship through life.
Cons
You’ll end up reading the entire series.
Best Books About Friendship Buyer’s Guide
Grade Of Book
The first thing you need to consider is the grade of the book that you are interested in reading. This essentially means the age of the reader that this book is aimed at.
A lot of books that are solely about friendship will be aimed at younger readers. While most adult novels have friendship as a background theme, rather than a central theme.
So the age that the book is aimed at is something to consider when buying a book about friendship.
Length Of Book
Something else to consider is the length of the book you are interested in. Most people will have a length of book they prefer, so this is something to bear in mind when buying a book.
Longer books will give the reader more time to explore the theme of friendship. However, shorter books might be better if you lack time to read. Consider what works for you before you buy.
Background Theme Vs Central Theme
Finally, you need to consider if you want to read a novel that explores friendship as a background theme or as the central theme.
A lot of novels will have friendship as a background theme, and almost all novels will include friendship at some point. While others will explore friendship as a central point of the novel. In this guide, I have included a mixture of both.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are lots of brilliant books about friendship that you need to check out.
From books aimed at children to books aimed at adults, there are tons of different books about friendship to choose from. All the books in this guide are a great place to start.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Friendship A Common Theme In Books?
Yes, friendship is a common theme in many books. Some books will have a friends-to-lovers theme, others will have a coming-of-age friendship theme, while some will simply include friendship as an integral part of the plot.
What Is The Theme Of Friendship In Literature?
In literature, friendship is the theme of having people around the main character who loves the main character despite their flaws. Friendship themes will often come with themes of refuge or sacrifice in literature.
Noah Burton works as a Librarian full time, and is a blogger in his spare time. His goal is to write compelling recommendations for all of the most popular books he can find, from science fiction to romance.
With a passion for books, a drive to find new reads to get stuck into, and a love for sharing book recommendations with others, Noah can help you find the next novel for your bucket list.
