Essays in Love charts the progress of a love affair from the first kiss to argument and reconciliation, from the anxieties of when to say "I love you" to the challenges of disagreeing with someone's taste in shoes. It minutely analyzes the emotions we've all felt but never understood so well.

Essays in Love 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. It minutely analyzes emotions we've all felt before but have perhaps never understood so well: it includes a chapter on the anxieties of when and how to say "I love you" and another on the challenges of disagreeing with someone else's taste in shoes. While gripping the reader with the talent of a great novelist, de Botton brings a philosopher's sensibility to the emotions of love.