Books with Themes of Grief
This list was inspired by the reading prompt:Read a book about grief/loss in the Playing Card Reading Challenge (Jack of Spades).
Powerful themes about grief can validate our own often strange mourning processes or help us see others more empathetically. Reading fiction accounts of grief can also allow us to process these emotions from the safe distance of the characters. There are many ways that people grieve, and having insight into the vast and varied process can help normalize the turbulent emotional journey that survivors experience. This list of books provides a range of fictional experiences with central themes of grief that may hit close to home.
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Sally Rooney
Two grieving brothers and the people they love find a new interlude of desire, despair, and possibility in the wake of their father’s death.
Also fulfills: Read a book with siblings at the center.
Grady Hendrix
After her parents’ death, Louise must return home to sell their house, dealing with her resentful brother and her mother’s creepy puppet collection. But the house has sinister plans of its own.
Also fulfills: Read a book with siblings at the center.
Laurie Kilmartin
An honest, irreverent, laugh-out-loud guide to coping with death and dying from Emmy-nominated writer and New York Times bestselling co-author of Sh*tty Mom, Laurie Kilmartin.
Also fulfills: Read a memoir/autobiography.
Celeste Ng
Tragic death of a Chinese-American family’s favored daughter unravels dark secrets and longing in 1970s small-town Ohio.
Also fulfills: Read a family saga
Carol Rifka Brunt
A young girl grieving the loss of her beloved uncle finds solace and understanding in an unexpected friendship with a stranger who shares her pain and helps her heal.
Also fulfills: Read a book with LGBTQ+ representation.
Yulin Kuang
A Reese’s Book Club Pick: Two writers with a complicated past reunite at a TV show, where their electric chemistry and shared secrets force them to confront their unresolved history.
Also fulfills: Read a romance
V. E. Schwab
Three women across different centuries – María in 1532 Spain, Charlotte in 1827 London, and Alice in 2019 Boston – face life-altering choices involving immortality, forbidden love, and revenge.
Tillie Cole
Two grieving teens—Savannah, mourning her sister, and Cael, a former hockey player devastated by his brother’s death—find healing and love during a therapeutic journey around the world.
Also fulfills: Read a romance
Louise Erdrich
Inspiring and affecting, LaRose is a powerful exploration of loss, justice, and the reparation of the human heart, and an unforgettable, dazzling tour de force from one of America’s most distinguished literary masters.
Alison Espach
A solo traveler at a Newport wedding venue is mistaken for a wedding guest, leading to an unexpected connection with the bride and a journey of personal transformation.
Also Fulfills: Read a romance
What books about grief have you read or do you plan to read? Leave a comment so we can check it out!
May your life be as full as your bookshelf and as long as your TBR list.
Happy Reading!
It’s interesting to see how grief can be woven into wedding stories. Did any particular story stand out to you?
I’m always surprised by how grief can manifest is unlikely places. I haven’t read all of the books in this list yet, but Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil stands out so far. Mostly due to its unusual approach to grief/loss.