Books About Death or Grieving: Fiction

Fictional stories and novels about death, grief, sadness, and healing

Updated June 7, 2023
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When you read this : a novel
Adkins, Mary
Paper Book
One of Real Simple's Best Books of 2019 One of Thrillist's Best Books of 2019  One of Good Housekeeping's Best Books of 2019 "Fans of Where'd You Go, Bernadette will love this. . . a bittersweet, often funny novel about hope, memory, and...
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...
Mostly dead things : a novel
Arnett, Kristen
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
Sing them home
Kallos, Stephanie.
CD
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, Nebraska, knows the story of Hope Jones, the physician's wife whose big dreams for their tiny town were lost...
Where reasons end : a novel
Li, Yiyun
Paper Book
A fearless writer confronts grief and transforms it into art, in a book of surprising beauty and love, "a masterpiece by a master" (Elizabeth McCracken, Vanity Fair). "Li has converted the messy and devastating stuff of life into a remarkable work of art."--...
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...
I am homeless if this is not my home
Moore, Lorrie
Paper Book
A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER * A NEW YORKER ESSENTIAL READ * From "one of the most acute and lasting writers of her generation" (The New York Times)--a ghost story set in the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries, an elegiac consideration of grief, devotion...
Dear Edward : a novel
Napolitano, Ann
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY * "Make sure you have tissues handy when you read [this] sure-footed tearjerker" (NPR) about a young boy who must learn to go on after surviving tragedy, from the author of the Oprah's...
Only child
Navin, Rhiannon
Paper Book
"Only Child triumphs. Zach, at only 6 years old, understands more about the human heart than the broken adults around him. His hope and optimism as he sets out to execute his plan will have every reader cheering him on, and believing in happy endings even in the face of such tragedy. . . ....
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,...
The friend
Nunez, Sigrid
Paper Book
When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane traumatised by the inexplicable disappearance of its master, and...
Someday, maybe
Nwabineli, Onyi
Paper Book
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK * A BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB PICK * A LIBRARYREADS PICK "If you are someone who gravitates toward emotional gut punch reads, allow me to introduce you to this spectacular debut..."--BuzzFeed Here are three...
The lovely bones : a novel
Sebold, Alice.
Paper Book
"My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on earth continue...
The furrows : an elegy : a novel
Serpell, Namwali
Paper Book
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award * One of the New York Times' Ten Best Books of the Year * Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize "A triumph."--New York Magazine From one of the most celebrated new voices in...
The pilot's wife : a novel
Shreve, Anita.
Paper Book
Anita Shreve's hauntingly beautiful #1 bestseller and Oprah's Book Club selection about tragedy, grief, betrayal, and the 'impossibility of knowing another person.' As a pilot's wife, Kathryn has learned to expect both intense exhilaration and long periods alone,...
Good grief
Winston, Lolly.
Paper Book
36-year-old Sophie Stanton has just lost her husband to cancer. But instead of the five stages of grief, there are fourteen: Denial, Oreos, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Ashes, Lust, Waitressing, Mentoring, Dating, Baking, Acceptance, Goodwill, and Thanksgiving. Determined to be a good widow,...
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." âe*ELLE InMoshi Moshi, Yoshie's much-loved...

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