The Greatest Books of All Time on Grief

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
79 As I Lay Dying William Faulkner 1930 American English
186 Bonjour Tristesse Francoise Sagan 1954 French French
253 Look Homeward, Angel Thomas Wolfe 1929 American English
265 Cry, the Beloved Country Alan Paton 1948 South African English
298 Herzog Saul Bellow 1964 American English
327 Solaris Stanislaw Lem 1961 Polish Polish
370 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 American English
466 A Death in the Family James Agee 1957 American English
488 The Shipping News Annie Proulx 1993 Canadian English
539 So Long, See You Tomorrow William Maxwell 1980 American English
607 House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski 2000 American English
610 Requiem Anna Akhmatova 1963 Russian Russian
613 The Persians Aeschylus -471 Greek Ancient greek
656 The Time Of The Doves Merce Rodoreda 1962 Spanish Catalan
720 The Professor's House Willa Cather 1925 American English
741 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt 2013 American English
862 Smilla's Sense of Snow Peter Høeg 1992 Danish Danish
986 Electra Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
1009 Love Story Eric Segal 1970 American English
1022 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English
1113 The Christmas Oratorio Göran Tunström 1983 Swedish Swedish
1124 Ajax Sophocles -440 Greek Ancient greek
1144 A Month In The Country J. L. Carr 1980 British English
1160 Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami 1987 Japanese Japanese
1258 The General of the Dead Army Ismail Kadare 1963 Albanian Albanian
1263 The Summer Book Tove Jansson 1972 Finnish Swedish
1313 The Optimist's Daughter Eudora Welty 1972 American English
1354 Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout 2008 American English
1355 Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas Dylan Thomas 1952 British English
1512 The Beast Must Die Nicholas Blake 1938 British English
1553 Beauty and Sadness Yasunari Kawabata 1964 Japanese Japanese
1563 Runaway Alice Munro 2004 Canadian English
1631 Acquainted With Grief Carlo Emilio Gadda 1963 Italian Italian
1637 The Sportswriter Richard Ford 1986 American English
1650 Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn Ward 2017 American English
1684 Train Dreams Denis Johnson 2002 American English
1693 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold 2002 American English
1770 The Emperor of Portugallia Selma Lagerlöf 1914 Swedish Swedish
1783 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers 2000 American English
1790 The Master Colm Toibin 2004 Irish English
1827 Experience Martin Amis 2000 British English
1829 To The Friend Who Did Not Save My Life Hervé Guibert 1990 French French
1894 Winter In The Blood James Welch 1974 American English
1946 A Burnt Child Stig Dagerman 1948 Swedish Swedish
1958 Let the Great World Spin Colum McCann 2009 Irish English
1972 The Virgin Suicides Jeffrey Eugenides 1993 American English
1983 The Great Believers Rebecca Makkai 2018 American English
2026 Stanzas about the Death of his Father Jorge Manrique 1476 Spanish Spanish
2114 All Souls' Day Cees Nooteboom 1998 Dutch Dutch
2166 Morvern Callar Alan Warner 1995 Scottish English
2199 Trojan Women Euripides -415 Greek Ancient greek
2224 My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh 2018 American English
2244 The Gathering Anne Enright 2007 Irish English
2256 Correction Thomas Bernhard 1975 Austrian German
2273 The Accidental Tourist Anne Tyler 1985 American English
2294 Family Life Akhil Sharma 2014 Indian English
2302 Ironweed William Kennedy 1983 American English
2317 To The End Of The Land David Grossman 2008 Israeli Hebrew
2334 How to be both Ali Smith 2014 British English
2366 Brooklyn Colm Toibin 2009 Irish English
2370 Happiness, as Such Natalia Ginzburg 1973 Italian Italian
2404 A Sorrow Beyond Dreams Peter Handke 1972 Austrian German
2416 Bright Lights, Big City Jay McInerney 1984 American English
2437 The Crow Road Iain Banks 1992 British English
2439 Poems Of Anna Akhmatova Anna Akhmatova 1912 Russian Russian
2530 The Anatomy Lesson Philip Roth 1983 American English
2533 A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman 2012 Swedish Swedish
2565 Poetry Quintus Lutatius Catulus -89 Roman Latin
2578 Les Contemplations Victor Hugo 1856 French French
2588 Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell 2020 Irish English
2590 The Trick Is to Keep Breathing Janice Galloway 1989 British English
2639 The Child in Time Ian McEwan 1987 British English
2678 H Is For Hawk Helen MacDonald 2014 British English
2694 Pet Sematary Stephen King 1983 American English
2804 Fates and Furies Lauren Groff 2015 American English
2829 A Contract With God Will Eisner 1978 American English
2849 Bad News Edward St Aubyn 1992 British English
2902 What I Loved Siri Hustvedt 2003 American English
2915 The Woman In Black Susan Hill 1983 British English
2925 The Return Hisham Matar 2016 Libyan English
2927 Unless Carol Shields 2002 Canadian English
2965 The Sea John Banville 2005 Irish English
3019 The Echoing Grove Rosamond Lehmann 1953 British English
3039 South Riding Winifred Holtby 1936 British English
3105 Alcestis Euripides -438 Greek Ancient greek
3114 Affinity Sarah Waters 1999 British English
3159 Who Made Stevie Crye? Michael Bishop 1984 American English
3171 The Bee Sting Paul Murray 2023 Irish English
3178 The Quick And The Dead Joy Williams 2000 American English
3324 To the North Elizabeth Bowen 1932 British English
3324 Back Henry Green 1946 British English
3377 Ordinary People Judith Guest 1976 American English
3404 The Unfortunates B. S. Johnson 1969 British English
3466 Sweetheart, Sweetheart Bernard Taylor 1977 British English
3493 Selected Poems Pierre Ronsard 1501 French French
3510 Song Of Kali Dan Simmons 1985 American English
3527 All My Puny Sorrows Miriam Toews 2014 Canadian English
3536 Netherland Joseph O'Neill 2008 Irish English
3553 Divorcing Susan Taubes 1969 American English
3563 Charming Billy Alice McDermott 1998 American English
3586 A Single Man Christopher Isherwood 1964 British English
3592 Legends of The Fall Jim Harrison 1979 American English
3604 A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing Eimear McBride 2013 Irish English
3608 Virgin River Robyn Carr 2007 American English
3638 War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Sassoon 1919 British English
3846 Troubling Love Elena Ferrante 1992 Italian Italian
3937 All The World's Mornings Pascal Quignard 1991 French French
4067 Lives Other Than My Own Emmanuel Carrère 2009 French French
4080 The White Hotel D. M. Thomas 1981 British English
4116 Why Did I Ever? Mary Robison 2001 American English
4162 No One Is Talking About This Patricia Lockwood 2021 American English
4217 Hecuba Euripides -424 Greek Ancient greek
4277 A Curtain Of Green Eudora Welty 1941 American English
4309 Love For Lydia H. E. Bates 1952 British English
4393 The Friend Sigrid Nunez 2018 American English
4442 Oblivion Héctor Abad Faciolince 2006 Colombian Spanish
4491 All The Little Live Things Wallace Stegner 1967 American English
4532 Mend The Living Maylis de Kerangal 2014 French French
4565 Mortal y rosa Francisco Umbral 1975 Spanish Spanish
4595 Nora Webster Colm Toibin 2014 Irish English