Benable — create shareable lists of things you recommend!
E.g., products you love, local businesses, travel recs - you can add anything to a Benable list!
Books that will break your heart
24
items Devastating, unforgettable stories built around real loss and heartbreak.
Sections
4
My favourite 5
New releases 2026
Top Series
Main List
My favourite 5
★★★★★ (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 heartbreak books 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 heartbreak books ever written.
The Book Thief - by Markus Zusak
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A childhood lie destroys two lovers' lives, and decades later the girl who told it tries to make sense of what she did.
Beautifully written and genuinely gutting, right up to its final twist.
A childhood lie destroys two lovers' lives, and decades later the girl who told it tries to make sense of what she did.
Beautifully written and genuinely gutting, right up to its final twist.
Atonement - by Ian McEwan
★★★★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
1
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 15+
A man reads the story of a young couple's love to a woman with memory loss in a nursing home, hoping she'll remember it's their own.
Sentimental and unapologetically devastating by the final pages.
A man reads the story of a young couple's love to a woman with memory loss in a nursing home, hoping she'll remember it's their own.
Sentimental and unapologetically devastating by the final pages.
The Notebook - by Nicholas Sparks
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A caregiver hired to look after a man paralysed in an accident finds herself falling for him as he wrestles with his own future.
Devastating by design — a genuine tearjerker that sparked huge conversation on its release.
A caregiver hired to look after a man paralysed in an accident finds herself falling for him as he wrestles with his own future.
Devastating by design — a genuine tearjerker that sparked huge conversation on its release.
Me Before You - by Jojo Moyes
New releases 2026
New releases 2026: Books that will break your heart
★★★½ (3.5/5) — Ages 14+
A coming-of-age story about loss and starting over after a devastating year.
A genuinely moving, comfort-adjacent heartbreak read.
A coming-of-age story about loss and starting over after a devastating year.
A genuinely moving, comfort-adjacent heartbreak read.
This Could Be Everything - by Eva Rice
★★★½ (3.5/5) — Ages 16+
A buried family secret resurfaces and forces a woman to reckon with old, unresolved grief.
Quiet, literary heartbreak with real emotional depth.
A buried family secret resurfaces and forces a woman to reckon with old, unresolved grief.
Quiet, literary heartbreak with real emotional depth.
Yesteryear - by Caro Claire Burke
★★★½ (3.5/5) — Ages 16+
A tender story about love, loss and the relationships that shape us, from a striking new literary voice.
A newer release worth checking closely for tone and content before it goes live.
A tender story about love, loss and the relationships that shape us, from a striking new literary voice.
A newer release worth checking closely for tone and content before it goes live.
Honey - by Imani Thompson
Top Series
Top Series: Books that will break your heart
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A devastating love story about a caregiver and the man she falls for, continued across three books as she learns to live with what came after.
Every bit as heartbreaking across the whole series as the first book alone.
A devastating love story about a caregiver and the man she falls for, continued across three books as she learns to live with what came after.
Every bit as heartbreaking across the whole series as the first book alone.
The Me Before You trilogy - by Jojo Moyes
Main List
Main List: Books that will break your heart
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
A man returns to a transformed Afghanistan to make amends for a childhood betrayal that has haunted him for decades.
Devastating and unflinching about guilt, loyalty and the cost of staying silent.
A man returns to a transformed Afghanistan to make amends for a childhood betrayal that has haunted him for decades.
Devastating and unflinching about guilt, loyalty and the cost of staying silent.
The Kite Runner - by Khaled Hosseini
★★★★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
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 16+
Two friends' relationship is followed on the same single day every year for two decades.
Funny and warm for most of its length, then absolutely devastating by the end.
Two friends' relationship is followed on the same single day every year for two decades.
Funny and warm for most of its length, then absolutely devastating by the end.
One Day - by David Nicholls
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 17+
A man's uncontrollable time-jumps disrupt every stage of his relationship with the woman he loves.
Inventive and moving, with an ending that's stayed famous for how hard it hits.
A man's uncontrollable time-jumps disrupt every stage of his relationship with the woman he loves.
Inventive and moving, with an ending that's stayed famous for how hard it hits.
The Time Traveler's Wife - by Audrey Niffenegger
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 12+
A boy raises two hunting dogs he's saved for years to buy, and their loyalty to him is tested to its limit.
A genuine classic tearjerker — one of the most-cited heartbreak books of all time.
A boy raises two hunting dogs he's saved for years to buy, and their loyalty to him is tested to its limit.
A genuine classic tearjerker — one of the most-cited heartbreak books of all time.
Where the Red Fern Grows - by Wilson Rawls
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 12+
A boy and his family's loyal stray dog face a devastating choice on the Texas frontier.
Short, simple, and still one of the most heartbreaking endings in children's classics.
A boy and his family's loyal stray dog face a devastating choice on the Texas frontier.
Short, simple, and still one of the most heartbreaking endings in children's classics.
Old Yeller - by Fred Gipson
★★★★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
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 14+
A mysterious millionaire's obsession with a married woman from his past drives the whole novel toward tragedy.
Short and devastating — one of the great heartbreak endings in American literature.
A mysterious millionaire's obsession with a married woman from his past drives the whole novel toward tragedy.
Short and devastating — one of the great heartbreak endings in American literature.
The Great Gatsby - by F. Scott Fitzgerald
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 14+
A wild, destructive love ruins nearly everyone connected to it across two generations on the Yorkshire moors.
Bleak and consuming — not a comforting romance, but an unforgettable one.
A wild, destructive love ruins nearly everyone connected to it across two generations on the Yorkshire moors.
Bleak and consuming — not a comforting romance, but an unforgettable one.
Wuthering Heights - by Emily Bronte
★★★★★ (5/5) — Ages 13+
Two teenagers from feuding families fall in love, with tragic consequences neither can escape.
The original heartbreak story — still devastating centuries later.
Two teenagers from feuding families fall in love, with tragic consequences neither can escape.
The original heartbreak story — still devastating centuries later.
Romeo and Juliet - by William Shakespeare
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 16+
A young widow receives a series of letters her late husband arranged to be delivered after his death.
Sad and sweet in equal measure — grief turned into something oddly comforting.
A young widow receives a series of letters her late husband arranged to be delivered after his death.
Sad and sweet in equal measure — grief turned into something oddly comforting.
P.S. I Love You - by Cecelia Ahern
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 15+
A shy freshman's letters to an anonymous friend reveal a slowly unfolding story about trauma, friendship and first love.
Aches with real feeling — a genuine coming-of-age heartbreaker.
A shy freshman's letters to an anonymous friend reveal a slowly unfolding story about trauma, friendship and first love.
Aches with real feeling — a genuine coming-of-age heartbreaker.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 14+
A boy's infatuation with a magnetic, self-destructive girl at boarding school changes his life — and then devastates it.
Funny and then suddenly gutting — the shift in tone is the whole point.
A boy's infatuation with a magnetic, self-destructive girl at boarding school changes his life — and then devastates it.
Funny and then suddenly gutting — the shift in tone is the whole point.
Looking for Alaska - by John Green
★★★★½ (4.5/5) — Ages 13+
A rebellious teenager falls for a quiet, deeply religious classmate who's hiding a devastating secret.
Clean, gentle, and one of the most-cited YA tearjerkers of its era.
A rebellious teenager falls for a quiet, deeply religious classmate who's hiding a devastating secret.
Clean, gentle, and one of the most-cited YA tearjerkers of its era.
A Walk to Remember - by Nicholas Sparks
★★★★ (4/5) — Ages 17+
A brief, intense four-day connection between a photographer and a farmer’s wife in 1960s Iowa changes both their lives, even though they part.
Devastating in its restraint — more heartbreak than romance, and one of the most talked-about love stories of its era.
A brief, intense four-day connection between a photographer and a farmer’s wife in 1960s Iowa changes both their lives, even though they part.
Devastating in its restraint — more heartbreak than romance, and one of the most talked-about love stories of its era.
The Bridges of Madison County by Robert Waller