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Books about grief and healing
22
items Honest, compassionate stories about loss and the long road through it.
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3
My favourite 5
Top Series
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My favourite 5
My favourite 5: Books about grief and healing
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 14+
Two teenagers meet in a cancer support group and fall in love while facing their own mortality.
Funny and devastating in equal measure — it earns every bit of the ending everyone already knows is coming.
Two teenagers meet in a cancer support group and fall in love while facing their own mortality.
Funny and devastating in equal measure — it earns every bit of the ending everyone already knows is coming.
The Fault in Our Stars - by John Green
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 12+
A boy whose mother is dying is visited nightly by a monster who insists on telling him three stories.
Short, devastating and beautifully illustrated — one of the most honest books about loss written for young readers.
A boy whose mother is dying is visited nightly by a monster who insists on telling him three stories.
Short, devastating and beautifully illustrated — one of the most honest books about loss written for young readers.
A Monster Calls - by Patrick Ness
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 12+
Two lonely kids build an imaginary kingdom in the woods together, until tragedy changes everything.
Quietly devastating — it doesn't soften the loss, which is exactly why it's stayed a classic.
Two lonely kids build an imaginary kingdom in the woods together, until tragedy changes everything.
Quietly devastating — it doesn't soften the loss, which is exactly why it's stayed a classic.
Bridge to Terabithia - by Katherine Paterson
★★★★★ (5/5) — Ages 14+
Narrated by Death itself, a young girl in Nazi Germany finds solace in stealing books.
Devastating and life-affirming at once — one of the most loved books about loss ever written.
Narrated by Death itself, a young girl in Nazi Germany finds solace in stealing books.
Devastating and life-affirming at once — one of the most loved books about loss ever written.
The Book Thief - by Markus Zusak
★★★★★ (5/5) — Ages 16+
A young neurosurgeon diagnosed with terminal cancer reflects on mortality, meaning and what makes life worth living.
Devastating and clear-eyed — finished by his wife after his death, and unforgettable because of it.
A young neurosurgeon diagnosed with terminal cancer reflects on mortality, meaning and what makes life worth living.
Devastating and clear-eyed — finished by his wife after his death, and unforgettable because of it.
When Breath Becomes Air - by Paul Kalanithi
Top Series
Top Series: Books about grief and healing
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A woman becomes a caregiver for a man paralysed in an accident, and the bond they form changes both their lives — a story continued across three books following her own healing afterward.
Devastating and tender — one of the most talked-about grief-and-healing series in contemporary fiction.
A woman becomes a caregiver for a man paralysed in an accident, and the bond they form changes both their lives — a story continued across three books following her own healing afterward.
Devastating and tender — one of the most talked-about grief-and-healing series in contemporary fiction.
The Me Before You trilogy - by Jojo Moyes
Main List
Main List: Books about grief and healing
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 18+
A murdered teenage girl watches from the afterlife as her family tries to piece their lives back together.
Unusual and haunting — grief told from an angle you won't find anywhere else.
A murdered teenage girl watches from the afterlife as her family tries to piece their lives back together.
Unusual and haunting — grief told from an angle you won't find anywhere else.
The Lovely Bones - by Alice Sebold
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 14+
After a car accident kills her family, a girl in a coma has to decide whether to live or let go.
Emotional without being manipulative — a genuine tearjerker with real weight behind it.
After a car accident kills her family, a girl in a coma has to decide whether to live or let go.
Emotional without being manipulative — a genuine tearjerker with real weight behind it.
If I Stay - by Gayle Forman
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 15+
A young boy searches New York City for a lock that matches a mysterious key left by his father, who died on 9/11.
Inventive and heartbreaking — childhood grief rendered with real originality.
A young boy searches New York City for a lock that matches a mysterious key left by his father, who died on 9/11.
Inventive and heartbreaking — childhood grief rendered with real originality.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - by Jonathan Safran Foer
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
Lewis's raw, unfiltered journal written in the months after his wife's death.
Short, honest, and unflinching about doubt and anger in grief rather than tidy comfort.
Lewis's raw, unfiltered journal written in the months after his wife's death.
Short, honest, and unflinching about doubt and anger in grief rather than tidy comfort.
A Grief Observed - by C.S. Lewis
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 17+
Didion recounts the year following her husband's sudden death and her daughter's critical illness.
Precise and unsparing — widely considered one of the definitive grief memoirs.
Didion recounts the year following her husband's sudden death and her daughter's critical illness.
Precise and unsparing — widely considered one of the definitive grief memoirs.
The Year of Magical Thinking - by Joan Didion
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
After her husband's sudden death, Sandberg explores resilience and how people find strength through adversity.
Practical as well as personal — genuinely useful for anyone supporting someone through loss.
After her husband's sudden death, Sandberg explores resilience and how people find strength through adversity.
Practical as well as personal — genuinely useful for anyone supporting someone through loss.
Option B - by Sheryl Sandberg & Adam Grant
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A grief therapist argues against the pressure to 'move on' and offers a gentler way to sit with loss.
Validating rather than prescriptive — widely recommended by grief counsellors themselves.
A grief therapist argues against the pressure to 'move on' and offers a gentler way to sit with loss.
Validating rather than prescriptive — widely recommended by grief counsellors themselves.
It's OK That You're Not OK - by Megan Devine
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 17+
Grieving her mother and her marriage, Strayed hikes over a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail alone.
Raw and unglamorous about both the hike and the grief driving it.
Grieving her mother and her marriage, Strayed hikes over a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail alone.
Raw and unglamorous about both the hike and the grief driving it.
Wild - by Cheryl Strayed
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
After her father's sudden death, Macdonald throws herself into training a fierce goshawk.
Unusual and absorbing — grief channelled into something wild and demanding.
After her father's sudden death, Macdonald throws herself into training a fierce goshawk.
Unusual and absorbing — grief channelled into something wild and demanding.
H Is for Hawk - by Helen Macdonald
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 14+
A dying dog narrates his owner's triumphs and losses over the course of their life together.
Sentimental on purpose, and it earns every tear it asks for.
A dying dog narrates his owner's triumphs and losses over the course of their life together.
Sentimental on purpose, and it earns every tear it asks for.
The Art of Racing in the Rain - by Garth Stein
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 13+
A former student visits his dying professor every Tuesday, learning about life through the lens of death.
Simple and sincere — a short read that's stayed a comfort book for decades.
A former student visits his dying professor every Tuesday, learning about life through the lens of death.
Simple and sincere — a short read that's stayed a comfort book for decades.
Tuesdays with Morrie - by Mitch Albom
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 13+
After dying in an accident, a man meets five people in heaven who each explain a hidden truth about his life.
Gentle and hopeful about how our lives connect to others, even when it doesn't feel like it.
After dying in an accident, a man meets five people in heaven who each explain a hidden truth about his life.
Gentle and hopeful about how our lives connect to others, even when it doesn't feel like it.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven - by Mitch Albom
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 15+
A girl conceived to be a genetic match for her dying sister sues her parents for the right to her own body.
Emotionally brutal, with a twist ending that still divides readers.
A girl conceived to be a genetic match for her dying sister sues her parents for the right to her own body.
Emotionally brutal, with a twist ending that still divides readers.
My Sister's Keeper - by Jodi Picoult
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 15+
Two struggling teenagers form an unlikely bond after meeting on a ledge, each hiding how much pain they're in.
Beautifully written and very sad — one of the most-recommended YA books on grief and mental health.
Two struggling teenagers form an unlikely bond after meeting on a ledge, each hiding how much pain they're in.
Beautifully written and very sad — one of the most-recommended YA books on grief and mental health.
All the Bright Places - by Jennifer Niven
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
Three friends slowly uncover the devastating truth about the purpose of the school where they grew up.
Quietly devastating — grief for a life that was never really allowed to be lived.
Three friends slowly uncover the devastating truth about the purpose of the school where they grew up.
Quietly devastating — grief for a life that was never really allowed to be lived.
Never Let Me Go - by Kazuo Ishiguro
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 15+
In 1990 London, a nineteen-year-old left housebound by a family tragedy finds an escaped canary in her kitchen, and slowly starts to come back to life.
Warm, hopeful and gently funny, a book about grief that never feels heavy.
In 1990 London, a nineteen-year-old left housebound by a family tragedy finds an escaped canary in her kitchen, and slowly starts to come back to life.
Warm, hopeful and gently funny, a book about grief that never feels heavy.
This Could Be Everything - by Eva Rice