My Oxford Year

Julia Whalen is also a renowned audiobook narrator, and I listened to this book in her melodic voice, being carried to Oxford. Julia attended Oxford for a year, and she takes us there in this beautiful story.

The story is about a young American woman named Ella Durran who has made it to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship. Through twists and turns, Ella must decide whether to turn her back on the man she’s falling in love with or follow her political dreams, which are coming true. Can we change our dreams? Read to find out. 

This is the book that inspired me to write romance.

It’s worth picking up for the setting alone—Julia Whelan’s attention to detail is astonishing and made me really, really wish I could attend Oxford—but the story is also beautiful and totally heart-wrenching. I go back and reread probably once a year because there was just something about this story that really struck a chord for me.

With this one, though, I always suggest looking at content warnings: there is something very central to the plot that I know can be difficult for some readers.