The Greatest Books of All Time on Loss

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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
17120 Lady In Waiting Anne Glenconner 2019 British English
17120 Frozen Bryony Lavery 1998 British English
17120 4000 Miles Amy Herzog 2011 American English
17120 Torch Song Trilogy Harvey Fierstein 1982 American English
17120 Nerilka's Story Anne McCaffrey 1986 Irish English
17120 A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall Will Chancellor 2014 American English
17120 The Rest Of Life Mary Gordon 1993 American English
17120 Palimpsest Catherynne M. Valente 2009 American English
17120 We Were Liars E. Lockhart 2014 American English
17120 I'll Be Right There Kyung-sook Shin 2010 South Korean Korean
17120 Hell Is The Absence Of God Ted Chiang 2001 American English
17120 Lavondyss Robert Holdstock 1988 British English
17120 Outside The Dog Museum Jonathan Carroll 1991 American English
17120 Requiem Graham Joyce 1995 British English
17120 One Conrad Williams 2009 British English
17120 Artful Ali Smith 2012 British English
17120 Paper Fish Tina de Rosa 1980 American English
17120 Claire Of The Sea Light Edwidge Danticat 2013 Haitian English
17120 The Book Of Aron Jim Shepard 2015 American English
17120 The Tennis Partner Abraham Verghese 1998 American English
17120 Memory In The Flesh Ahlam Mosteghanemi 1993 Algerian Arabic
17120 A Girl Returned Donatella Di Pietrantonio 2017 Italian Italian
17120 Look To Windward Iain Banks 2000 British English
17120 A Whole Life Robert Seethaler 2014 Austrian German
17120 Memory Man David Baldacci 2015 American English
17120 Little Bee Chris Cleave 2008 British English
17120 The Book Of Lost Things John Connolly 2006 Irish English
17120 Hannah Coulter Wendell Berry 2004 American English
17120 The Dog Stars Peter Heller 2012 American English
17120 I Too Had A Love Story Ravinder Singh 2007 Indian Hindi
17120 The Country Without A Post Office Agha Shahid Ali 1997 Indian English
17120 Certainty Madeleine Thien 2006 Canadian English
17120 Stay With Me Ayobami Adebayo 2017 Nigerian English
17120 Kingdom Animalia Aracelis Girmay 2011 American English
17120 Elegy On Toy Piano Dean Young 2005 American English
17120 Ramifications Daniel Saldaña París 2018 Mexican Spanish
17120 Umami Laia Jufresa 2015 Mexican Spanish
17120 Breathing Into Marble Laura Sintija 2009 Unknown Lithuanian
17120 The Christmas Pig J. K. Rowling 2021 British English
17120 The Unseen World Liz Moore 2016 American English
17120 A Gathering Of Days Joan W. Blos 1979 American English
17120 Ancient Light John Banville 2012 Irish English
17120 Blue Lily, Lily Blue Maggie Stiefvater 2014 American English
17120 Getting Through Grief Christine McArthur Unknown Unknown
17120 The Green Ripper John D. MacDonald 1979 American English
17120 جای خالی سلوچ Mahmoud Dowlatabadi 1979 Iranian Persian
17120 Mayakovsky's Revolver Matthew Dickman 2012 American English
17008 The Fate Of A Man And Early Stories Mikhail Sholokhov 1967 Russian Russian
17120 Sombrero Fallout Richard Brautigan 1976 American English
17120 Inside Out & Back Again Thanhhà Lại 2011 American English
17120 Migrations Charlotte McConaghy 2020 Australian English
17120 Morrer Na Primavera Ralf Rothmann 2015 German German
17120 Rosalie Lightning Tom Hart 2016 American English
17024 Bambi Felix Salten 1923 Austrian German
17120 A Chair For My Mother Vera B. Williams 1982 American English
17120 Locomotion Jacqueline Woodson 2003 American English
17120 Zpověď Maxe Tivoliho Andrew Sean Greer 2004 American English
17120 The Phone Booth At The Edge Of The World Laura Imai Messina 2020 Italian Italian
17120 If Cats Disappeared From The World Genki Kawamura 2012 Japanese Japanese
17120 Inventario Di Alcune Cose Perdute Judith Schalansky 2018 German German
17120 Katherine Carlyle Rupert Thomson 2015 British English
17120 Universal Harvester John Darnielle 2017 American English
17120 The Wake Paul Kingsnorth 2014 British English
17120 Our Ecstatic Days Steve Erickson 2005 American English
17120 The World And All That It Holds Aleksandar Hemon 2023 Bosnian English
17120 Rabbit Cake Annie Hartnett 2017 American English
17120 White Egrets Derek Walcott 2010 Saint Lucian English
17120 The Collected Stories Lorrie Moore 2008 American English
17120 The Last Days Of Cafe Leila Donia Bijan 2017 Unknown English
17120 Children Of The Jacaranda Tree Sahar Delijani 2013 Unknown English
17120 The Colonel Mahmoud Dowlatabadi 2009 Iranian Persian
17120 Fresh Water For Flowers Valerie Perrin 2018 French French
17120 Poems Of Sextus Propertius Propertius -29 Roman Latin
17120 Thunderclap Laura Cumming 2023 British English
17120 Dandelions Yasunari Kawabata Japanese Japanese
17120 The Beastly Beatitudes Of Balthazar B J. P. Donleavy 1967 American English
17120 The Man With Night Sweats Thom Gunn 1992 British English
17120 Ghosts Unknown 2017 Unknown English
17120 This January Tale Bryher 1966 British English
17120 The Falling Hills Perry Lentz 1994 American English
17120 The Three Days Don Robertson 1959 American English
17120 By Antietam Creek Don Robertson 1960 American English
17120 Fancher Train Amelia Bean Unknown Unknown
17120 Eleni Or Nobody Rhea Galanaki 1998 Greek Greek
17120 The Legacy Of Lost Things Aida Zilalian 2016 Unknown English
17120 Moshi Moshi Banana Yoshimoto 2010 Japanese Japanese
17120 This Is Salvaged Vauhini Vara 2023 Unknown English
17120 Emergency Kathleen Alcott 2023 Unknown English
17120 Obra Maestra Juan Tallón 2022 Spanish Spanish
17120 About Ed Robert Gluck 2023 Unknown English
17120 The Berry Pickers Amanda Peters 2023 Unknown English
17120 Yesterday Tobias Becker 2023 Unknown Unknown
17120 The Love Of Singular Men Victor Heringer 2023 Brazilian Portuguese
17120 This Is Salvaged Vauhini Vara 2023 Unknown English
17120 Wound Oksana Vasyakina 2023 Russian Russian
17120 The Burning Of The World Scott W. Berg 2023 Unknown Unknown
17120 Ladies’ Lunch Lore Segal 2023 American English
17120 Loved And Missed Susie Boyt 2023 British English
17120 Wednesday’s Child Yiyun Li 2023 American English
17120 All Souls Saskia Hamilton 2023 Unknown English
17120 Terrace Story Hilary Leichter 2023 Unknown English
17120 Hangman Maya Binyam 2023 Unknown English
17120 Still Born Guadalupe Nettel 2023 Mexican Spanish
17120 You, Bleeding Childhood Michele Mari 2023 Italian Italian
17120 Hope Andrew Ridker 2023 American English
17120 Fire Rush Jacqueline Crooks 2023 Unknown English
17120 Thunderclap Laura Cumming 2023 Unknown English
17120 After The Funeral And Other Stories Tessa Hadley 2023 British English
17120 The Lost Sons Of Omaha Joe Sexton 2023 Unknown English
17120 The House Is On Fire Rachel Beanland 2023 Unknown English
17120 Lament For Julia Susan Taubes 2023 Unknown English
17120 Be Mine Richard Ford 2023 American English
17120 Take What You Need Idra Novey 2023 American English
17120 Gravity And Center Henri Cole 2023 American English
17120 Stealing Margaret Verble 2023 American English
17120 Small Mercies Dennis Lehane 2023 American English
17120 In Memoriam Alice Winn 2023 Unknown English
17120 Skeletons Deborah Landau 2023 Unknown English
17120 The Dog Of The North Elizabeth McKenzie 2023 American English
17120 I Am Still With You Emmanuel Iduma 2023 Nigerian English