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
9240 Soul Music Terry Pratchett 1994 British English
9244 The Red Tree Caitlín R. Kiernan 2009 American English
9251 White Is For Witching Helen Oyeyemi 2009 British English
9261 Unaccustomed Earth Jhumpa Lahiri 2008 Indian English
9287 The Lost And Found Bookshop Susan Wiggs 2020 American English
9340 The Tender Land Kathleen Finneran 2000 American English
9516 After You’d Gone Maggie O'Farrell 2000 British English
9515 C John Diamond 1998 British English
9542 Sofia Petrovna Lydia Chukovskaya 1965 Russian Russian
9611 A Quiet Belief In Angels R. J. Ellory 2007 British English
9678 Ordesa Manuel Vilas 2018 Spanish Spanish
9726 The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle David Wroblewski 2008 American English
9793 We Pierce Andrew Huebner 2002 American English
9832 The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley Hannah Tinti 2017 American English
9833 Poems Of Donald Hall Donald Hall 1975 American English
9857 The English Teacher R. K. Narayan 1945 Indian English
9912 Your House Will Pay Steph Cha 2019 American English
9927 A Dress Of Fire Dalia Ravikovitch 1976 Israeli Hebrew
9972 If You Come Softly Jacqueline Woodson 1998 American English
10136 Nocturnes For The King Of Naples Edmund White 1978 American English
10136 A Call In The Midst Of The Crowd Alfred Corn 1978 American Unknown
10158 On The Way To My Father’s Funeral Jonathan Baumbach 2004 American English
10176 The Kill Artist Daniel Silva 2000 American English
10177 Monkey Beach Eden Robinson 2000 Canadian English
10220 Quiet Chaos Sandro Veronesi 2005 Italian Italian
10260 Selected Poems Miguel Hernández 1979 Spanish Spanish
10281 They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us Hanif Abdurraqib 2017 American English
10298 Dirt Music Tim Winton 2001 Australian English
10302 Requiem Shizuko Gō 1986 Japanese Japanese
10305 Dear Departed Marguerite Yourcenar 1974 French French
10305 The Summer Of The Great Grandmother Madeleine L'Engle 1974 American English
10419 How To Build A Boat Elaine Feeney 2023 Irish English
10431 I'll Give You The Sun Jandy Nelson 2014 American English
10433 She's Come Undone Wally Lamb 1992 American English
10450 The Cost of Living Deborah Levy 2018 British English
10450 Ten Thousand Saints Eleanor Henderson 2011 American English
10450 Calypso David Sedaris 2018 American English
10556 Peniel And Other Poems Kevin Hart 1981 Australian English
10740 Imagine Me Gone Adam Haslett 2016 American English
10794 Elsewhere Gabrielle Zevin 2005 American English
10908 Grief Andrew Holleran 2022 American English
10939 I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter Erika L. Sánchez 2017 American English
10939 We Are Okay Nina LaCour 2017 American English
11037 The Riders Tim Winton 1994 Australian English
11073 The Lost Man Jane Harper 2018 Australian English
11109 The Falling Woman Pat Murphy 1986 American English
11214 Book Of My Mother Albert Cohen 1954 French French
11253 Praisesong For The Widow Paule Marshall 1983 American English
11338 The Incendiaries R. O. Kwon 2018 American English
11358 The Land Of Spices Kate O'Brien 1941 Irish English
11390 Elaine's Book Jay Wright 1988 American Unknown
11477 Vicky Angel Jacqueline Wilson 2000 British English
11506 Collected Poems John Berryman 1989 American English
11526 Orpheus and Eurydice Unknown -28 Unknown Ancient greek
11545 Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral Gabriela Mistral 1922 Chilean Spanish
11564 Nox Anne Carson 2010 Canadian English
11627 May We Be Forgiven A. M. Homes 2012 American English
11641 Noggin John Corey Whaley 2014 American English
11661 The Furrows Namwali Serpell 2022 Unknown English
11661 Disappearing Earth Julia Phillips 2019 American English
11661 The Association Of Small Bombs Karan Mahajan 2016 Indian English
11811 Rich In Love Josephine Humphreys 1987 American English
11863 Dumplin' Julie Murphy 2015 American English
11863 More Happy Than Not Adam Silvera 2015 American English
12083 Sweet Summer Bebe Moore Campbell 1989 American English
12172 The Electric Michelangelo Sarah Hall 2004 British English
12200 Memorial Ferdinando Camon 1983 Italian Italian
12258 Floating In My Mother's Palm Ursula Hegi 1990 German English
12290 All Russians Love Birch Trees Olga Grjasnowa 2012 German German
12324 Two Lives William Trevor 1991 Irish English
12378 Black Cake Charmaine Wilkerson 2022 American English
12454 The Astonishing Color Of After Emily X. R. Pan 2018 American English
12513 The Montreal Massacre Louise Malette, Marie Chalouh 1991 Canadian French
12513 Refuge Terry Tempest Williams 1991 American English
12574 The Diaries Alma Mahler 1997 Austrian German
12655 Earthly Measures Edward Hirsch 1994 American English
12832 Fortunate Lives Robb Forman Dew 1992 American English
13064 Bridge to Terabithia Katherine Paterson 1977 American English
13086 P.S. I Love You Cecelia Ahern 2004 Irish English
13236 Harrow The Ninth Tamsyn Muir 2020 New Zealand English
13255 You Shall Know Our Velocity Dave Eggers 2002 American English
13276 Even The Dogs Jon McGregor 2010 British English
13276 Idaho Emily Ruskovich 2017 American English
13266 Bone Fae Myenne Ng 1993 American English
13335 Last Orders Graham Swift 1996 British English
13351 In My Brother's Shadow Uwe Timm 2005 German German
13542 The Spectator Bird Wallace Stegner 1976 American English
13542 Three Junes Julia Glass 2002 American English
13551 The Lowland Jhumpa Lahiri 2013 American English
13593 The Book Of Joe Jonathan Tropper 2004 American English
13715 The Philosopher Kings Jo Walton 2015 Canadian English
13746 I Miss You, I Miss You! Peter Pohl 1992 Swedish Swedish
13749 When My Brother Was An Aztec Natalie Diaz 2012 American English
13791 When Death Takes Something From You Give It Back Naja Marie Aidt 2017 Danish Danish
13817 La Casa Del Padre Giorgio Montefoschi 1994 Italian Italian
13817 Passaggio In Ombra Mariateresa Di Lascia 1995 Italian Italian
13817 The Hummingbird Sandro Veronesi 2019 Italian Italian
13817 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
14347 Fortune Smiles Adam Johnson 2015 American English
14398 Writers & Lovers Lily King 2020 American English
14553 The Deep End Of The Ocean Jacquelyn Mitchard 1996 American English
14598 The Cost Of Hope Amanda Bennett 2012 American English
14666 The Finkler Question Howard Jacobson 2010 British English
14730 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
14831 Everything Happens For A Reason Kate Bowler 2018 American English
14984 The Hand That First Held Mine Maggie O'Farrell 2010 British English
14984 The Book of Strange New Things Michel Faber 2014 British English
14984 This House of Grief Helen Garner 2014 Australian English