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
9243 Soul Music Terry Pratchett 1994 British English
9247 The Red Tree Caitlín R. Kiernan 2009 American English
9254 White Is For Witching Helen Oyeyemi 2009 British English
9264 Unaccustomed Earth Jhumpa Lahiri 2008 Indian English
9290 The Lost And Found Bookshop Susan Wiggs 2020 American English
9343 The Tender Land Kathleen Finneran 2000 American English
9519 After You’d Gone Maggie O'Farrell 2000 British English
9518 C John Diamond 1998 British English
9545 Sofia Petrovna Lydia Chukovskaya 1965 Russian Russian
9614 A Quiet Belief In Angels R. J. Ellory 2007 British English
9682 Ordesa Manuel Vilas 2018 Spanish Spanish
9730 The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle David Wroblewski 2008 American English
9797 We Pierce Andrew Huebner 2002 American English
9836 The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley Hannah Tinti 2017 American English
9837 Poems Of Donald Hall Donald Hall 1975 American English
9861 The English Teacher R. K. Narayan 1945 Indian English
9916 Your House Will Pay Steph Cha 2019 American English
9932 A Dress Of Fire Dalia Ravikovitch 1976 Israeli Hebrew
9977 If You Come Softly Jacqueline Woodson 1998 American English
10140 Nocturnes For The King Of Naples Edmund White 1978 American English
10140 A Call In The Midst Of The Crowd Alfred Corn 1978 American Unknown
10162 On The Way To My Father’s Funeral Jonathan Baumbach 2004 American English
10181 The Kill Artist Daniel Silva 2000 American English
10182 Monkey Beach Eden Robinson 2000 Canadian English
10225 Quiet Chaos Sandro Veronesi 2005 Italian Italian
10264 Selected Poems Miguel Hernández 1979 Spanish Spanish
10285 They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us Hanif Abdurraqib 2017 American English
10302 Dirt Music Tim Winton 2001 Australian English
10306 Requiem Shizuko Gō 1986 Japanese Japanese
10309 Dear Departed Marguerite Yourcenar 1974 French French
10309 The Summer Of The Great Grandmother Madeleine L'Engle 1974 American English
10423 How To Build A Boat Elaine Feeney 2023 Irish English
10435 I'll Give You The Sun Jandy Nelson 2014 American English
10437 She's Come Undone Wally Lamb 1992 American English
10454 The Cost of Living Deborah Levy 2018 British English
10454 Ten Thousand Saints Eleanor Henderson 2011 American English
10454 Calypso David Sedaris 2018 American English
10559 Peniel And Other Poems Kevin Hart 1981 Australian English
10744 Imagine Me Gone Adam Haslett 2016 American English
10798 Elsewhere Gabrielle Zevin 2005 American English
10913 Grief Andrew Holleran 2022 American English
10944 I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter Erika L. Sánchez 2017 American English
10944 We Are Okay Nina LaCour 2017 American English
11041 The Riders Tim Winton 1994 Australian English
11077 The Lost Man Jane Harper 2018 Australian English
11113 The Falling Woman Pat Murphy 1986 American English
11218 Book Of My Mother Albert Cohen 1954 French French
11257 Praisesong For The Widow Paule Marshall 1983 American English
11342 The Incendiaries R. O. Kwon 2018 American English
11361 The Land Of Spices Kate O'Brien 1941 Irish English
11393 Elaine's Book Jay Wright 1988 American Unknown
11479 Vicky Angel Jacqueline Wilson 2000 British English
11508 Collected Poems John Berryman 1989 American English
11528 Orpheus and Eurydice Unknown -28 Unknown Ancient greek
11547 Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral Gabriela Mistral 1922 Chilean Spanish
11565 Nox Anne Carson 2010 Canadian English
11629 May We Be Forgiven A. M. Homes 2012 American English
11643 Noggin John Corey Whaley 2014 American English
11663 The Furrows Namwali Serpell 2022 Unknown English
11663 Disappearing Earth Julia Phillips 2019 American English
11663 The Association Of Small Bombs Karan Mahajan 2016 Indian English
11813 Rich In Love Josephine Humphreys 1987 American English
11865 Dumplin' Julie Murphy 2015 American English
11865 More Happy Than Not Adam Silvera 2015 American English
12084 Sweet Summer Bebe Moore Campbell 1989 American English
12173 The Electric Michelangelo Sarah Hall 2004 British English
12201 Memorial Ferdinando Camon 1983 Italian Italian
12259 Floating In My Mother's Palm Ursula Hegi 1990 German English
12291 All Russians Love Birch Trees Olga Grjasnowa 2012 German German
12326 Two Lives William Trevor 1991 Irish English
12380 Black Cake Charmaine Wilkerson 2022 American English
12456 The Astonishing Color Of After Emily X. R. Pan 2018 American English
12515 The Montreal Massacre Louise Malette, Marie Chalouh 1991 Canadian French
12515 Refuge Terry Tempest Williams 1991 American English
12576 The Diaries Alma Mahler 1997 Austrian German
12657 Earthly Measures Edward Hirsch 1994 American English
12834 Fortunate Lives Robb Forman Dew 1992 American English
13067 Bridge to Terabithia Katherine Paterson 1977 American English
13089 P.S. I Love You Cecelia Ahern 2004 Irish English
13239 Harrow The Ninth Tamsyn Muir 2020 New Zealand English
13258 You Shall Know Our Velocity Dave Eggers 2002 American English
13279 Even The Dogs Jon McGregor 2010 British English
13279 Idaho Emily Ruskovich 2017 American English
13269 Bone Fae Myenne Ng 1993 American English
13338 Last Orders Graham Swift 1996 British English
13354 In My Brother's Shadow Uwe Timm 2005 German German
13543 The Spectator Bird Wallace Stegner 1976 American English
13543 Three Junes Julia Glass 2002 American English
13552 The Lowland Jhumpa Lahiri 2013 American English
13594 The Book Of Joe Jonathan Tropper 2004 American English
13716 The Philosopher Kings Jo Walton 2015 Canadian English
13747 I Miss You, I Miss You! Peter Pohl 1992 Swedish Swedish
13750 When My Brother Was An Aztec Natalie Diaz 2012 American English
13792 When Death Takes Something From You Give It Back Naja Marie Aidt 2017 Danish Danish
13818 La Casa Del Padre Giorgio Montefoschi 1994 Italian Italian
13818 Passaggio In Ombra Mariateresa Di Lascia 1995 Italian Italian
13818 The Hummingbird Sandro Veronesi 2019 Italian Italian
13818 Due Vite Emanuele Trevi 2020 Italian Italian
13940 Daylight Saving Edward Hogan 2012 British English
13969 The Birds Of The Innocent Wood Deirdre Madden 1988 Irish English
13971 Hotel World Ali Smith 2001 British English
14106 L'éducation D'une Fée Didier van Cauwelaert 2000 French French
14122 Turtles All The Way Down John Green 2017 American English
14172 The Human Comedy William Saroyan 1943 American English
14232 LaRose Louise Erdrich 2016 American English
14232 Bag Of Bones Stephen King 1998 American English
14232 The Sweet Hereafter Russell Banks 1991 American English
14232 Lost Boy Lost Girl Peter Straub 2003 American English
14348 Fortune Smiles Adam Johnson 2015 American English
14399 Writers & Lovers Lily King 2020 American English
14554 The Deep End Of The Ocean Jacquelyn Mitchard 1996 American English
14599 The Cost Of Hope Amanda Bennett 2012 American English
14667 The Finkler Question Howard Jacobson 2010 British English
14732 The Changeling Joy Williams 1978 American English
14818 Dona Flor And Her Two Husbands Jorge Amado, Harriet de Onís 1966 Brazilian Portuguese
14788 Instead Of A Letter Diana Athill 1963 British English
14833 Everything Happens For A Reason Kate Bowler 2018 American English
14986 The Hand That First Held Mine Maggie O'Farrell 2010 British English
14986 The Book of Strange New Things Michel Faber 2014 British English
14986 This House of Grief Helen Garner 2014 Australian English