At The School of Life we believe literature has the power to transform lives and that quality will always matter more than quantity. Each title in our Box Set collection contains our pick of essential classic and modern texts on a given theme. They're our favorite lifetime companions and guides.

This set is about Love. Follow four thinkers as they try to understand love, to reason with it--and, ultimately, fall at its feet.

Essays in Love by Alain de Botton - Essays in Love will appeal to anyone who has ever been in a relationship or confused about love. The book charts the progress of a love affair from the first kiss to argument and reconciliation, from intimacy and tenderness to the onset of anxiety and heartbreak.

A Lovers Discourse by Roland Barthes - The language we use when we are in love is not a language we speak. It is a language addressed to ourselves and to our imaginary beloved. It is a language of solitude, of mythology, of what Barthes calls an 'image repertoire'. This is a book for everyone who has ever been in love, or indeed, thought themselves to be immune to its power.

On Love by Stendahl - 'On Love' is Stendhal's profound attempt to rationalize that most complex of emotions--romantic love. Inspired by unrequited passion, he brings together logical, clear-sighted analysis with all-consuming emotion, to most remarkable effect. The result is an astonishing work that bears all the hallmarks of Stendhal's later masterpieces.

Conditions of Love by John Armstrong - Drawing on writers and thinkers as diverse as Plato, Tolstoy, Freud and Stendhal, John Armstrong explores how our perception of love is formed by culture and history. A book for anyone who believes or disbelieves in love.