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Books About Death or Grieving: Fiction
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Fictional stories and novels about death, grief, sadness, and healing
Updated June 7, 2023
LINCC (Libraries in Clackamas County)
Milwaukie Ledding Library
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When you read this : a novel
Adkins, Mary
Paper Book
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The homewreckers : a novel
Andrews, Mary Kay
Paper Book
Summer begins with Mary Kay Andrews, in this delightful summer read about flipping houses, and finding true love. "Andrews (The Newcomer) sparkles in this fast-paced tale. Andrews's fans will eat this up." --Publishers Weekly "A fun story...
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Mostly dead things : a novel
Arnett, Kristen N.
Paper Book
What does it take to come back to life? For Jessa-Lynn Morton, the question is not an abstract one. In the wake of her father's suicide, Jessa has stepped up to manage his failing taxidermy business while the rest of the Morton family crumbles. Her mother starts sneaking into the taxidermy shop...
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June : a novel
Beverly-Whittemore, Miranda
Paper Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of Bittersweet comes a novel of suspense and passion about a terrible mistake made sixty years ago that threatens to change a modern family forever. Twenty-five-year-old Cassie Danvers is holed up...
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In the unlikely event
Blume, Judy.
Paper Book
In her highly anticipated new novel, Judy Blume, the New York Times # 1 best-selling author of Summer Sisters and of young adult classics such as Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, creates a richly textured and moving story of three generations of families, friends and...
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The grief of others
Cohen, Leah Hager.
Paper Book
Is keeping a secret from a spouse always an act of infidelity? And what cost does such a secret exact on a family? The Ryries have suffered a loss: the death of a baby just fifty-seven hours after his birth. Without words to express their grief, the parents, John and Ricky, try to return...
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The familiar dark : a novel
Engel, Amy
Paper Book
One of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2020 (Mystery/Thriller) "From its gripping beginning to its sobering finale, Amy Engel's The Familiar Dark never fails to enthrall with surprising twists."-Associated Press A spellbinding story of a mother...
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The music of bees
Garvin, Eileen
Paper Book
A heartwarming debut novel for readers of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, following three lonely strangers in a rural Oregon town, each working through grief and life's curveballs, who are brought together by happenstance on a local honeybee farm where they find surprising...
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The joy of falling : a novel
Harrel, Lindsay
Paper Book
Eva and Angela must learn to live again. One step at a time . . . It has been fifteen months since Eva and Angela lost their thrill-seeking husbands in a scuba diving accident. Both women are trying to navigate their way through the grief, but neither one is making much progress. Angela is barely...
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Sing them home
Kallos, Stephanie.
Paper Book
Sing Them Home is a moving portrait of three siblings who have lived in the shadow of unresolved grief since their mother's disappearance when they were children. Everyone in Emlyn Springs knows the story of Hope Jones, the physician's wife whose big dreams for their tiny town were lost...
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Where reasons end : a novel
Li, Yiyun
Paper Book
'Profoundly moving. An astonishing book, a true work of art' Max Porter, author of Grief is the Thing with Feathers 'A masterpiece. This book haunts me more than any other novel I've read in recent years' Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You ...
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Monogamy : a novel
Miller, Sue
Paper Book
A New York Times Notable Book * NPR Best Book of the Year * People magazine Top Ten Books of the Year * BookPage Best Book of the Year * Good Housekeeping Best Book of the Year "A sensual and perceptive novel. . . . With humor and humanity, Miller resists the simple scorned-wife story and...
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I am homeless if this is not my home
Moore, Lorrie
Paper Book
Lorrie Moore's first novel since A Gate at the Stairs--a daring, meditative exploration of love and death, passion and grief, and what it means to be haunted by the past, both by history and the human heart. From "one of the most acute and lasting writers of her generation...
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Dear Edward : a novel
Napolitano, Ann.
Paper Book
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Only child
Navin, Rhiannon
Paper Book
Squeezed into a coat closet with his classmates and teacher, first grader Zach Taylor hears shots ringing through the halls of his school as a gunman takes nineteen lives and irrevocably changes his community. While Zach's mother seeks justice by holding the shooter's parents responsible, Zach...
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Everything I never told you
Ng, Celeste
Paper Book
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year * A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * Winner of the Alex Award and the Massachusetts Book Award * Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, San Francisco Chronicle, Entertainment Weekly,...
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The friend
Nunez, Sigrid
Paper Book
An Award-winning AuthorWhen a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the dog he left behind. Now her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of a huge Great Dane, and by the threat of eviction. Increasingly obsessed with...
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Someday, Maybe
Nwabineli, Onyi
Paper Book
Here are three things you should know about my husband:1. He was the great love of my life despite his penchant for going incommunicado. 2. He was, as far as I and everyone else could tell, perfectly happy. Which is significant because . . . 3. On New Year's Eve, he killed himself.
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Remote control
Okorafor, Nnedi
Paper Book
An alien artifact turns a young girl into Death's adopted daughter in Remote Control, a thrilling sci-fi tale of community and female empowerment from Nebula and Hugo Award-winner Nnedi Okorafor "She's the adopted daughter of the Angel of Death. Beware of her. Mind...
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Grief is the thing with feathers : a novel
Porter, Max
Paper Book
Here he is, husband and father, scruffy romantic, a shambolic scholar--a man adrift in the wake of his wife's sudden, accidental death. And there are his two sons who like him struggle in their London apartment to face the unbearable sadness that has engulfed them. The father imagines a future of...
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Summerland
Rajaniemi, Hannu
Paper Book
"It reads like John Le Carré if Le Carré ate a ton of acid before writingTinker Tailor Soldier Spy..."--NPR onSummerland From Hannu Rajaniemi, one of the most exciting science fiction writers in the last decade, comes an awe-inspiring account of the...
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The lovely bones : a novel
Sebold, Alice
Paper Book
A haunting and heartbreaking novel narrated from heaven as a young girl watches over her family and killer. My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. In heaven, Susie Salmon can have...
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The furrows : an elegy
Serpell, Namwali
Paper Book
I don't want to tell you what happened; I want to tell you how it felt. Cassandra Williams is twelve; her little brother Wayne is seven. One day, when they are alone together, there is an accident, and Wayne is lost forever. Though his body is never recovered, their mother is...
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The pilot's wife
Shreve, Anita
Paper Book
An Oprah's Book Club selection, this gripping and powerfully wrought novel from the bestselling author of The Weight of Water is a stunning meditation on grief, betrayal and 'the ultimate unknowability of those closest to us' (Daily Telegraph) Who can guess what...
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Violet
Thomas, Scott
Paper Book
Selected by Library Journal as one of the best horror books of 2019 "The sheer, skin-crawling fright is masterful. Thomas has crafted an indelible story...all wrapped in a supernatural shroud that unfurls from the heart of America. Whether or not thoughts can breathe,...
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Good grief : a novel
Winston, Lolly.
Paper Book
A brilliantly funny and heartwarming debut about a young woman who stumbles, then fights to build a new life after the death of her husband. The perfect book for anyone who has ever been heartbroken, lost someone they loved, or eaten too many Oreos.
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Moshi Moshi
Yoshimoto, Banana
Paper Book
"A beautiful translation . . . Yoshimoto deploys a magically Japanese light touch to emotionally and existentially tough subject matter- domestic disarray, loneliness, identity issues, lovesickness . . . a nimble narrative." ―ELLE In Moshi Moshi, Yoshie's much...
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