Books About Grief
Books about grief and grieving.
April 23, 2024
Notes On Grief
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Presents a deeply personal work of meditation, hope, and remembrance recounting the death of the author’s beloved father in the summer of 2020.
Life After Suicide
Finding Courage, Comfort & Community After Unthinkable Loss
Jennifer Ashton
Shares the author’s experiences after the suicide of her ex-husband, as well as the most recent insights into suicide from the medical community. Life After Suicide is a window into a world that we all truly need to start to understand, without shame, stigma, or bias.
Loss, Survive, Thrive
Bereaved Parents Share Their Stories Of Healing And Hope
Meryl Hershey Beck
Bereaved parents share an unspeakable bond. And Loss, Survive, Thrive imparts insight from what’s likely the only voices that grieving parents can hear–others who have walked in their shoes. This book is a giant step toward healing the grieving heart.
Modern Loss
Candid Conversation About Grief: Beginners Welcome
Rebecca Soffer, Gabrielle Birkner
Inspired by the website that the New York Times hailed as “redefining mourning,” this book is a fresh and irreverent examination into navigating grief and resilience in the age of social media, offering comfort and community for coping with the mess of loss through candid original essays from a variety of voices, accompanied by gorgeous two-color illustrations and wry infographics.
Stunned By Grief
Remapping Your Life When Loss Changes Everything
Judy Brizendine
Provides advice to aid those who are dealing with death and other tragic losses, including what to expect and how to thrive again, strategies to enhance healing, and allowing God to transform grief.
Good Grief
Heal Your Soul, Honor Your Loved Ones, And Learn To Live Again
Theresa Caputo
The star of Long Island Medium shares inspiring, spirit-based lessons on how to work through and overcome grief in a guide that also offers example testimonies about the experiences of her clients.
Grief Is For People
Sloane Crosley
The author of the New York Times best-sellers I Was Told There’d Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number shares how she dealt with the grief of losing her best friend to suicide.
Finding Love After Loss
A Relationship Roadmap For Widows
Marti Benedetti, Mary A Dempsey
Finding Love After Loss is a friendly guide to dating after the death of a spouse. Through interviews with widows and advice from experts in the field, this book details the singular challenges of women who are looking for love again after the loss of a partner-and the unexpected ways they are shaping their new lives.
It’s Ok That You’re Not Ok
Meeting Grief And Loss In A Culture That Doesn’t Understand
Megan Devine
Having experienced grief from both sides– as a therapist and as a woman who witnessed the accidental drowning of her beloved partner– Devine writes with deep insight about the unspoken truths of loss, love, and healing. She debunks the culturally prescribed goal of returning to a normal, ‘happy’ life, replacing it with a far healthier middle path, one that invites us to build a life alongside grief rather than seeking to overcome it.
Chicken Soup For The Grieving Soul
Stories About Life, Death, And Overcoming The Loss Of A Loved One
Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen
An inspirational anthology of stories, written by those who have lost loved ones, provides readers with comfort, peace, understanding, and solace as they go through the grieving process and come to terms with their own loss by cherishing special memories, celebrating life, and honoring the special in their lives during a time of sorrow.
Comfort
A Journey Through Grief
Ann Hood
The author of The Knitting Circle documents her family’s journey of grief after the sudden death of her five-year-old daughter after a virulent illness, a process during which she learned how to knit and experienced comfort in unexpected ways.
Breaking Sad
What To Say After Loss, What Not To Say, And When To Just Show Up
Shelly Fisher, Jennifer Jones
Uses personal stories and suggestions from everyday survivors to explain what can be done to support someone suffering from a loss.
Finding Meaning
The Sixth Stage Of Grief
David Kessler
In 1969, Elisabeth Kubler Ross identified five stages of dying in her book On Death and Dying. Now Kessler introduces a critical sixth stage: finding meaning that can transform grief into a more peaceful and hopeful experience. Though his journey with grief began as a child, his life was upended by the sudden death of his twenty-one-year-old son. Here he shares the insights, collective wisdom, and powerful tools he has learned over the decades
On Grief And Grieving
Finding The Meaning Of Grief Through The Five Stages Of Loss
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, David Kessler
A follow-up to “On Death and Dying” draws on the original work’s theories about the five stages of dying to provide empathic counsel on the grieving process, in a spiritual guide that covers such topics as isolation and healing.
Welcome To The Grief Club
Because You Don’t Have To Go Through It Alone
Janine Kwoh
Filled with new insight, empathy and touches of humor, this different and modern kind of grief book reflects on how we grieve; explores the facets of grief, and brings the comfort of community and shared experience, reminding us we are not alone.
Grief Is Love
Living With Loss
Marisa Renee Lee
Provides guidance to those experiencing the pain of grief to authentically claim space for each deeply complicated feeling and emotion and to find healing through permission, care, feeling and grace while debunking grief stages or timelines.
I Promise It Won’t Always Hurt Like This
18 Assurances On Grief
Clare Mackintosh
The grieving book that New York Times bestselling author Clare Mackintosh needed herself years ago, this is a modern, accessible approach to grief when you don’t know how to help or what to do, inspired by a viral social media post that touched millions as it assures the reader that there is a path through their darkness.
The Hot Young Widows Club
Lessons On Survival From The Front Lines Of Grief
Nora McInerny
The host of the “Terrible, Thanks for Asking” podcast offers humorous advice on navigating some of life’s most difficult moments, whether it is grieving the loss of a loved one or offering comfort and support to someone else in need.
Surviving The Loss Of A Spouse
Sheryl Garrett, Ruth J Mills
Few life experiences are more demanding than the loss of a spouse. While continuing to cope with grief, the surviving partner must also manage myriad financial details. This On the Road guide treats every fine point, from planning the funeral to claiming life insurance, retirement, and military benefits. Here’s an invaluable tool that helps a surviving spouse get organized, cut through red tape, and assertively face the future.
Beyond The Darkness
A Gentle Guide For Living With Grief And Thriving After Loss
Clarissa Moll
Sorrow is a dark and painful road. You don’t need to walk it alone. The Bible says that “God is near to the brokenhearted,” but what does that look like when you’re lost in the darkness of agonizing grief? How do you engage with your sorrow when the world tells you to shoulder through or move on? Award-winning writer and podcaster Clarissa Moll knows this landscape of loss all too well. In her debut book, Clarissa offers her powerful personal narrative as well as honest, practical wisdom that will gently guide you toward flourishing amidst your own loss.
The Grieving Brain
The Surprising Science Of How We Learn From Love And Loss
Mary-Frances O’Connor
From grief expert and neuroscientist Mary-Frances O’Connor PhD, The Grieving Brain utilizes cutting-edge research to guide us through how our brains process love and loss-and how we can learn to heal.
How To Heal A Grieving Heart
Doreen Virtue, James Van Praagh
When you’re grieving, you need support and comfort, and How to Heal a Grieving Heart provides practical and spiritual help.
Second Firsts
A Step-By-Step Guide To Life After Loss
Christina Rasmussen
Presents a guide for dealing with grief and loss, detailing five steps of healing that can lead to a lifestyle alignment with personal values and new possibilities for a re-engaged life.
Yoga For Grief Relief
Simple Practices For Transforming Your Grieving Mind And Body
Antonio Sausys
Provides illustrations and step-by-step instructions for gentle yoga poses that can help those struggling with the mental and physical pain of grief to work through their loss and cleanse and reprogram their mind and begin the path to enlightenment.
Conscious Grieving
A Transformative Approach To Healing From Loss
Claire Bidwell Smith
An intimate guide to grieving that offers hope and healing within loss from one of the nation’s top grief therapists. Presented in a series of thoughtful, brief vignettes that don’t overwhelm the reader, Conscious Grieving offers a new framework for each stage.
Keep Moving
Notes On Loss, Creativity, And Change
Maggie Smith
When poet Smith started writing daily Twitter posts in the wake of her divorce, they unexpectedly caught fire. Here she writes about new beginnings as opportunities for transformation. Like kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken ceramics with gold, she celebrates the beauty and strength on the other side of loss. This is a book for anyone who has gone through a difficult time and is wondering: What comes next?
Anxiety, The Missing Stage Of Grief
A Revolutionary Approach To Understanding And Healing The Impact Of Loss
Claire Bidwell Smith
Anxiety disorders are on the rise; many people are looking for resources to help them cope with anxiety, yet most people aren’t aware that unresolved grief is a primary underpinning–or that the two are related at all.
The Dead Moms Club
A Memoir About Death, Grief, And Surviving The Mother Of All Losses
Kate Spencer
A comedian, writer and mom who lost her own mother when she was 27 describes her experience with grief and loss in an effort to help others cope with huge losses and come out whole again.
Grief Day By Day
Simple Practices And Daily Guidance For Living With Loss
Jan Warner
In Grief Day by Day, Jan Warner draws on her own extensive experience and the experiences of the 2 million followers on her Grief Speaks Out Facebook page to offer hope in its most practical form. This book does not look to offer a solution to grief. Rather, it provides supportive, useful guidance to help you create a life in which peace, and even gratitude, can coexist with your grief.
Saying Goodbye To Someone You Love
Your Emotional Journey Through End Of Life And Grief
Norine Dresser, Fredda Wasserman
Offers advice to those grieving from the imminent passing or recent loss of a loved one on such topics as hospice, caregiver challenges, funeral preparations, memorials, the stages of grief, and moving on.
The Anxiety Of Grief
How To Understand, Soothe, And Express Your Fears After A Loss
Alan Wolfelt
This book by one of the world’ s most beloved grief counselors will help you understand your anxiety and fears after a significant loss. They are normal, and they serve a purpose. But learning to soothe your fears is also essential. You don’ t need to live in continuous anxiety, and you shouldn’ t because it’ s bad for your health. You’ ll learn ways to comfort and distract yourself whenever you need to. Finally, you’ ll discover that expressing your fears is key to taming them.
The Art Of Losing
Poems Of Grief And Healing
Kevin Young
Poems about the various stages of grief, with 150 selections from a variety of 20th-21st century poets.
The Unspeakable Loss
How Do You Live After A Child Dies? Support, Guidance, And Wisdom From Others Who Have Been There
Nisha Zenoff
A licensed family therapist shares compassionate counsel for bereaved parents who have lost a child, sharing Q&A-style insights from her personal experiences with the death of her own son to cover such areas of concern as how to navigate overwhelming grief and how to keep a marriage healthy after a tragedy.
Biography
In Love
A Memoir Of Love And Loss
Amy Bloom
The New York Times best-selling author tells the story of her husband’s battle with early onset Alzheimer’s, their determination to support one another and his eventual decision to end his own life with dignity.
The Urgent Life
My Story Of Love, Loss, And Survival
Bozoma Saint John
Taking readers through the dizzying, numbing days of multiple griefs, the author shares her journey forward through the highs and lows as she negotiates life as a woman determined to learn from tragedies to build a remarkable life worth living even in her brokenness.
Dear William
A Father’s Memoir Of Addiction, Recovery, Love, And Loss
David Magee
An award-winning columnist and author shares his family’s intergenerational struggle with substance abuse and mental health issues in the wake of his own son’s death from an accidental overdose in the hopes of helping other families in similar situations.
I Keep Trying To Catch His Eye
A Memoir Of Loss, Grief, And Love
Ivan Maisel
I Keep Trying to Catch His Eye is the story of Maisel’s love for a son who was so different from him, but who he loved so deeply, and how he came to learn that grief for Max was nothing more than a last, ultimate expression of love.
Like A River
Finding The Faith And Strength To Move Forward After Loss And Heartache
Granger Smith
In this inspirational and deeply personal book, an award-winning, platinum-selling, American country music singer-songwriter shares the dark days following the death of his youngest son and how he found the strength and the faith to keep living after loss, showing that life is like a river, full of twists and turns.
Black Widow
A Sad-Funny Journey Through Grief For People Who Normally Avoid Books With Words Like “journey” In The Title
Leslie Gray Streeter
The Palm Beach Coast entertainment columnist shares compassionate, real-world insights into modern widowhood that challenges its taboos while exploring the contributing factors of race, faith, aging and mixed heritage.
Loss of a Pet
The Grief Recovery Handbook For Pet Loss
Russell Friedman, Cole James, John W James
A very specific guide to the actions that help grieving pet owners grieve and complete their relationship to the pain and unfinished emotional business caused by the death of a pet.