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To celebrate Valentine's Day, this week we held a poll to find the nation's favourite Penguin love story, asking our Facebook fans and Twitter followers to vote for their favourite from a shortlist of ten of our most enduring romantic classics.

After much discussion and in-fighting among the Austen aficionados, Bronte-botherers and Hardy die-hards, the results are in:

1) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: 24% - 70 votes

2) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: 18% - 51 votes

3=) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: 15% - 44 votes

3=) Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: 15% - 44 votes

4) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: 8% - 24 votes

5) Persuasion by Jane Austen: 8% - 23 votes

7) Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy: 5% - 13 votes

8=) Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan: 3% - 8 votes

8=) Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin: 3% - 8 votes

10) Le Grand Mealnes (The Lost Estate) by Henri Alain-Fournier: 1% - 2 votes

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Austen's romantic comedy-of-manners will top pretty much any book list it is eligible for; and so it proved here, winning the vote in the end at a canter with a 24% share. The perennial favourite was perhaps still fresh in the public's imaginations after the recent 200th anniversary celebrations. 

There was little to separate the Bronte sisters however, with just six votes to separate Charlotte's Jane Eyre (18%) and Emily's Wuthering Heights (15%). F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby was by far the most popular non-English title on the list, also garnering 15% of the vote.

To celebrate the results of the poll we're offering a Valentine's Day 50% discount on Pride and Prejudice at Penguin.co.uk - to claim your discount, simply enter the coupon code 'Love' when prompted.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Flowers? For me? Oh, you shouldn't - oh. You didn't. They're for your mother? Fine. Whatevs.

But you did get me a book? Now we're talking.

Despite difficult book relationships at times, a deciding factor in agreeing to domestic bliss with my better half was the discovery of a key shared book. I say I gave the book to him, he says he gave it to me. Potato potahto. (I gave it to him.)

So which book have you found shared love in? Or, for the misanthropes out there, which was the straw that broke the relationship's back?

Once more, I'll post something nice out to whichever answer I like best. Although that will probably only apply to UK people. But come on! Everyone can just join in anyway! Yeay! Hang on - you didn't even get me flowers. Why am I feeling bad about this?

Sam the Copywriter

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