Loveless by Alice Oseman is a contemporary young adult novel. It is a coming-of-age story that explores the often ignored sexual orientation of asexuality, following young characters leaving home, discovering themselves, and finding love. Alice Oseman is a young adult fiction writer whose career in publishing began when she was 17 years old. Oseman often incorporates her own experiences with queerness in her novels. She is the author of four young adult novels and the writer-illustrator of Heartstopper, a webcomic adapted into graphic novels and a television series. She has been nominated for a BAFTA TV Award and two Children’s and Family Emmy Awards.

This guide refers to the 2021 HarperCollins edition.

Content Warning: Loveless depicts acephobia, sexuality-related identity crises, and the challenges of coming out. It also mentions emotional abuse in the Part 4, Chapter 14 Summary.

Plot Summary

Georgia is 18 years old and about to begin a new chapter of her life at Durham University. At a prom afterparty with her friends Pip and Jason, she decides to kiss her longtime crush, Tommy. She has never been kissed and this lack of romance concerns her, as she doesn’t want to go to college feeling like a child. Georgia summons her courage and, in a moment alone with Tommy, goes in for a kiss. However, she suddenly grows disgusted by him and the idea of kissing.

Georgia moves to Durham University. She shares her dorm with a roommate named Rooney. Rooney is confident about being a sexual person, and Georgia is impressed by how social she is. Despite their differences, they develop a friendship. Rooney is passionate about performing Shakespeare, and she advocates for a Shakespeare Society on campus. She gets Georgia, Pip, and Jason to join the Shakespeare Society. Georgia, Pip, and Jason love theater, though Pip is in love with Rooney and confrontational with her in order to keep her at a distance.

Georgia meets Sunil, a nonbinary student who identifies as asexual and gay. He is the president of the Pride Society and is determined to create a safe, inclusive space for everyone questioning their place on the spectrum of queerness. Georgia is curious about these new terms, including aromanticism. When she researches the terms online, she is frightened by how these identities resonate with her own experiences. Sunil also joins the Shakespeare Society. With five official members, the Shakespeare Society can host campus performances. They choose scenes from Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, and Twelfth Night. Georgia struggles to play romantic leads.

Rooney tries to help Georgia figure out why she doesn’t date. She suggests Georgia date Jason because they’re best friends. Georgia isn’t attracted to Jason, but figures he would be a good boyfriend. She is determined to have a kiss, so she pursues Jason. He is surprised by this shift in their friendship. They date cautiously, but when Jason kisses Georgia, it’s clear she’s not attracted to him. She explains wanting to test the waters with her first kiss, offending Jason, who stops talking to her.

Georgia and Rooney get drunk at an annual university party. When Georgia tells Rooney that she’s not interested in Jason, Rooney proposes she may be interested in girls. Rooney drunkenly kisses her. Georgia again feels nothing but disgust at kissing. Pip walks in on them kissing and storms off. Pip stops speaking to Georgia and Rooney; Pip and Jason also quit the Shakespeare Society. While Georgia grapples with being asexual and aromantic, afraid of being alone, Rooney falls into a depression, tired of casual sex and suffering low self-esteem. Rooney reveals she was once close with a girl named Beth, whom she abandoned when she got her first boyfriend. She even convinced her parents to allow her to transfer high schools so she could be with her new boyfriend. She spent three years in an emotionally abusive relationship with her now ex-boyfriend. As a result, Rooney has casual sex because she believes she is worthless otherwise.

Georgia returns home to her family for Christmas. Her 34-year-old cousin Ellis and Ellis’s parents are staying at Georgia’s house. Ellis is a successful model-turned-artist, but because she’s single and childless, she is targeted by family jokes. Georgia overhears Ellis’s parents berating her for being single. Ellis advises Georgia to invest in her friendships. When she returns from Christmas break, she resolves to save her friendships. She plans an elaborate party for Jason, her, Rooney, and Sunil dressing up as the Scooby-Doo gang and whisking Jason to a costume party. Georgia and Jason make up. He confesses that he’s been in love with her for a while but will deal with these feelings to maintain their friendship.

At Durham, there is a tradition in which students propose university marriage to one another. Friends or lovers team up and mentor younger students, creating university families. Pip loves Moulin Rouge, so Georgia plans to coax her back into the friend group using her passion. Georgia, Rooney, Sunil, and Jason dress up in suits, row a boat down a river, and play “Your Song” for Pip. Georgia proposes university marriage to Pip, and she agrees.

The Shakespeare Society reunites, but things are still tense between Rooney and Pip. They both make small gestures of kindness to break the ice. Georgia stays up late with them before their first campus performance, but leaves them alone to confront their feelings. Rooney and Pip go back to Pip’s room to be intimate, but Rooney panics and runs off. Georgia wakes to text messages from Pip panicking that Rooney is missing. Georgia uses an app to track down Rooney’s phone, which is discarded by the river. She is worried and cries. Rooney runs to her, having dropped her phone accidentally. The pair voice their platonic love for each other. Rooney explains she ran away from Pip because she panicked over possibly using sex to dissociate from her feelings again.

Georgia and Rooney make it to the campus performance just in time. The performance is messy but charming. Georgia’s role as the romantic lead was replaced by others. She instead plays comedic supporting characters. Later, Pip and Rooney start a relationship, and the Shakespeare Society searches for a house to rent together. Sunil suggests to Georgia that they create a society for asexual people. Though she has become more comfortable with her asexuality, she still has anxiety about her future and isn’t ready to lead such a club.