Skip to main content
S
Southeastern Ohio Regional Library
All Lists
Topic Guides
Fancy a Cry?: Books with the Saddest Endings
Unpublished
Share
Books just about guaranteed to leave you in tears.
Updated October 2, 2022
Unbound Librarians
A list cannot be published until it has at least four items.
List was unpublished.
List was published.
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
The Remains of the Day
Kazuo Ishiguro
Paper Book
BOOKER PRIZE WINNER * From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, here is "an intricate and dazzling novel" (The New York Times) about the perfect butler and his fading, insular world in post-World War II England. This is Kazuo Ishiguro's profoundly...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Atonement
Ian McEwan
Paper Book
On the hottest day of the summer of 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her older sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house. Watching Cecilia is their housekeeper’s son Robbie Turner, a childhood friend who, along with Briony&...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestselling novel beloved by millions of readers the world over. "A vivid and engaging story that reminds us how long his people [of Afghanistan] have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence--forces that continue to threaten them even today...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
A Little Life
Hanya Yanagihara
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A stunning "portrait of the enduring grace of friendship" (NPR) about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves. A masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century. NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST *...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Where the Red Fern Grows
Wilson Rawls
Paper Book
Read the beloved classic that captures the powerful bond between man and man's best friend. This edition also includes a special note to readers from Newbery Medal winner and Printz Honor winner Clare Vanderpool. Billy has long dreamt of owning not one, but two, dogs. So when...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The Fault in Our Stars
John Green
Paper Book
Bestselling author John Green returns with an eagerly anticipated and emotional novel about sickness and health, life and death. Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs. for now. Two years post-miracle,...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Eleanor and Park
Rainbow Rowell
Paper Book
#1 New York Times Best Seller! "Eleanor & Park reminded me not just what it's like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it's like to be young and in love with a book."-John Green, The New York Times Book Review Bono met his...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Me Before You
Jojo Moyes
Paper Book
USA Today's top 100 books to read while stuck at home social distancing From the New York Times bestselling author of The Giver of Stars, discover the love story that captured over 20 million hearts in Me Before You,...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The Time Traveler's Wife
Audrey Niffenegger
Paper Book
A dazzling novel in the most untraditional fashion, this is the remarkable story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate love affair...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The Road
Cormac McCarthy
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A searing, post-apocalyptic novel about a father and son's fight to survive that "only adds to McCarthy's stature as a living master. It's gripping, frightening and, ultimately, beautiful" (San Francisco Chronicle)....
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck
Paper Book
A controversial tale of friendship and tragedy during the Great Depression They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Flowers for Algernon
Daniel Keyes
Paper Book
Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, the powerful, classic story about a man who receives an operation that turns him into a genius...and introduces him to heartache. Charlie Gordon is about to embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with an unusually...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The End of the Affair
Graham Greene
Paper Book
"A story has no beginning or end- arbitrarily one chooses a moment of experience from which to look ahead..." "This is a record of hate far more than of love," writes Maurice Bendrix in the opening passages of The End of the Affair, and it is a strange hate indeed...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Marley & me : life and love with the world's worst dog
Grogan, John
Paper Book
The heartwarming and unforgettable story of a family and the wondrously neurotic dog who taught them what really matters in life. Now with photos and new material. Is it possible for humans to discover the key to happiness through a bigger-than-life, bad-boy dog? Just ask the Grogans. ...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Crying in H Mart: A Memoir
Michelle Zauner
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the indie rock sensation known as Japanese Breakfast, an unforgettable memoir about family, food, grief, love, and growing up Korean American--"in losing her mother and cooking to bring her back to life, Zauner became herself" (NPR). * CELEBRATING...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The Color Purple
Alice Walker
Paper Book
A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick Winner of the Pulitzer Prize * Winner of the National Book Award Published to unprecedented acclaim,The Color Purple established Alice Walker as a major voice in...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Bridge to Terabithia
Katherine Paterson
Paper Book
The fortieth anniversary edition of the classic Newbery Award-winning title by beloved author Katherine Paterson, with brand-new bonus materials including an author's note by Katherine herself, and a foreword by New York Times bestselling author Kate DiCamillo. Jess Aarons has...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Sarah's Key
Tatiana de Rosnay
Paper Book
Now a major motion picture! From beloved international sensation and #1 New York Times bestselling author Tatiana de Rosnay come's her celebrated novel Sarah's Key. Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
My Sister's Keeper
Jodi Picoult
Paper Book
New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult is widely acclaimed for her keen insights into the hearts and minds of real people. Now she tells the emotionally riveting story of a family torn apart by conflicting needs and a passionate love that triumphs over human weakness. Anna is not sick, but...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak
Paper Book
The extraordinary #1 New York Times bestseller that is now a major motion picture, Markus Zusak's unforgettable story is about the ability of books to feed the soul. It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier...
Comment
Save
Cancel
Check Availability
Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or
log in here.