Fancy a Cry?: Books with the Saddest Endings

Books just about guaranteed to leave you in tears.
Updated October 2, 2022
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The Remains of the Day
Kazuo Ishiguro
Paper Book
A compelling portrait of the perfect English butler, who, at the end of his career in postwar England, reviews his life and secretly questions the greatness of the nobleman he served. This Booker Prize-winning novel is now a Merchant-Ivory film starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.
Atonement
Ian McEwan
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A symphonic novel of love and war, childhood and class, guilt and forgiveness that provides all the satisfaction of a brilliant narrative and the provocation we have come to expect from the acclaimed Booker Prize-winning, internationally bestselling author.
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
Paper Book
Twelve year old Amir is desperate to win the approval of his father Baba, one of the richest and most respected merchants in Kabul. He has failed to do so through academia or brawn, but the one area where they connect is the annual kite fighting tournament. Amir is determined not just to win the...
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 *...
The Fault in Our Stars
John Green
Paper Book
John Green's brilliant #1 bestselling novel The Fault in Our Stars is now a major motion picture starring Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Laura Dern, and Willem Dafoe, in movie theaters June 6, 2014!   Includes a full-color insert of stills from the...
The Road
Cormac McCarthy
Paper Book
Korean edition of "The Road" that won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize by Cormac McCarthy who has written several bestselling books including 'No Country for Old Men'. This eloquent and brilliant novel describes the post-apocalyptic condition after a nuclear holocaust as a father and his son journey toward...
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...
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...
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...
The Color Purple
Alice Walker
Paper Book
The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that tells the story of two sisters through their correspondence. With a new Preface by the author.

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