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The Song of Achilles

by Madeline Miller · 2011 · Historical / Mythology / LGBTQ+

BEMajor character deathWar violence

A retelling of the Trojan War through Patroclus's eyes, tracing his bond with Achilles and their fated path.

Pride and Prejudice

by Jane Austen · 1813 · Classic / Romance

HEClassism

Elizabeth and Darcy move from misunderstanding to mutual respect — a cornerstone of romantic comedy.

No Longer Human

by Osamu Dazai · 1948 · Japanese Literature / Literary

BESuicidal ideationSubstance abuse

Three notebooks chronicle one man's self-destruction — Dazai's semi-autobiographical masterpiece.

Norwegian Wood

by Haruki Murakami · 1987 · Japanese Literature / Coming-of-age

BittersweetSuicideGrief

In late-60s Tokyo, Toru drifts between two women and the shadow of his friend's death.

The Remains of the Day

by Kazuo Ishiguro · 1989 · Literary / Historical

AmbiguousDeep regret

An English butler retraces a life of service and realizes what love and judgment he missed.

The Giver

by Lois Lowry · 1993 · Dystopia / YA

OEInfant 'release'Authoritarian control

In a colorless 'perfect' community, young Jonas is chosen to receive its hidden memories.

Beach Read

by Emily Henry · 2020 · Romance / Contemporary

HEParental lossInfidelity (referenced)

Two rival authors with opposite styles spend a summer next door and swap genres — and slowly fall.

The Hating Game

by Sally Thorne · 2016 · Romance / Workplace Comedy

HESexual content

Two publishing-house enemies-across-the-desk grind it out — and discover they were wrong about each other.

Red, White & Royal Blue

by Casey McQuiston · 2019 · Romance / LGBTQ+ / Political

HEForced outingSexual content

The First Son of the US and a British prince go from rivals to lovers across an ocean.

People We Meet on Vacation

by Emily Henry · 2021 · Romance / Travel

HEAnxiety

Poppy and Alex vacation together every summer — until one trip wrecks everything.

The Kiss Quotient

by Helen Hoang · 2018 · Romance / Contemporary

HEExplicit sex

An autistic econometrician hires an escort to practice dating — and falls in love.

Me Before You

by Jojo Moyes · 2012 · Romance / Contemporary

BEMain character deathAssisted dying

Lou is hired as carer for paralyzed Will; their bond reshapes both lives.

The Fault in Our Stars

by John Green · 2012 · YA / Romance

BEMain character deathTerminal illness

Two teens with cancer meet at a support group and fall in love.

It Ends with Us

by Colleen Hoover · 2016 · Romance / Contemporary

BittersweetDomestic abuseSexual content

Lily discovers a cycle of domestic violence in her marriage and must choose to end it.

The Time Traveler's Wife

by Audrey Niffenegger · 2003 · Romance / Speculative

BittersweetMajor death

Henry involuntarily time-travels; Clare waits her whole life for him.

One Day

by David Nicholls · 2009 · Romance / Literary

BEMain character death

Em and Dex meet on the same date each year for two decades.

The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins · 2008 · YA / Dystopia

HEViolenceChild death

Katniss volunteers to take her sister's place in the deadly Games.

Six of Crows

by Leigh Bardugo · 2015 · YA / Fantasy

BittersweetViolence

Six outcasts attempt an impossible heist.

They Both Die at the End

by Adam Silvera · 2017 · YA / LGBTQ+

BEMain character deathGrief

Two teens meet on the last day before their predicted deaths.

All the Bright Places

by Jennifer Niven · 2015 · YA / Romance

BESuicideDepression

Two teens meet on a bridge ledge and try to save each other.

Thirteen Reasons Why

by Jay Asher · 2007 · YA / Issue Novel

BESuicideSexual assault

After her suicide, Hannah leaves behind 13 cassette tapes.

We Were Liars

by E. Lockhart · 2014 · YA / Thriller

BEChild deathFire

A wealthy heiress's summer on a private island hides a truth she doesn't remember.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

by Benjamin Alire Sáenz · 2012 · YA / LGBTQ+ / Coming-of-age

HEHomophobiaPhysical violence

Two Mexican-American teens in the late 80s form a friendship that becomes love.

The Name of the Wind

by Patrick Rothfuss · 2007 · Fantasy

OEViolence

Legendary Kvothe narrates the story of his early life.

A Court of Thorns and Roses

by Sarah J. Maas · 2015 · Fantasy / Romance

HEExplicit sexViolence

Feyre kills a wolf and is taken into the faerie realm.

Mistborn: The Final Empire

by Brandon Sanderson · 2006 · Fantasy

BittersweetViolence

Kelsier leads a heist crew to overthrow an immortal tyrant.

The Priory of the Orange Tree

by Samantha Shannon · 2019 · Fantasy / LGBTQ+

HEViolence

Standalone epic with queens, assassins, dragons and an apocalyptic prophecy.

Piranesi

by Susanna Clarke · 2020 · Fantasy / Literary

AmbiguousCaptivity

Piranesi lives alone in an endless labyrinthine House, recording tides and statues.

The Night Circus

by Erin Morgenstern · 2011 · Fantasy / Romance

HE

Two magicians are bound to a duel staged inside a wandering circus.

Circe

by Madeline Miller · 2018 · Mythology / Historical

BittersweetSexual violenceGrief

The witch Circe across a thousand years of exile.

A Little Life

by Hanya Yanagihara · 2015 · Literary / LGBTQ+

BEChild sexual abuseSelf-harm

Four college friends in NYC across decades, centering one man's trauma.

Never Let Me Go

by Kazuo Ishiguro · 2005 · Literary / Dystopia

BEMajor character death

Boarding school students slowly learn the purpose of their existence.

Klara and the Sun

by Kazuo Ishiguro · 2021 · Literary / Sci-fi

BittersweetIllness

Klara, an AI 'Artificial Friend', observes the family she serves.

The Road

by Cormac McCarthy · 2006 · Literary / Post-apocalyptic

BittersweetViolenceCannibalism

A father and son walk the wasteland after an extinction event.

1984

by George Orwell · 1949 · Dystopia / Classic

BETortureAuthoritarian control

Winston tries to resist the Party in a totalitarian state.

Brave New World

by Aldous Huxley · 1932 · Dystopia / Classic

BESuicideAuthoritarian control

A future where chemical control and consumption replace freedom.

The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood · 1985 · Dystopia / Literary

OESexual violenceAuthoritarian control

Offred lives as a Handmaid in the theocratic Republic of Gilead.

The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini · 2003 · Literary / Historical

BittersweetChild sexual assaultWar violence

Amir returns to Afghanistan to confront a childhood betrayal.

Beloved

by Toni Morrison · 1987 · Literary / Historical

BittersweetInfanticideSlavery trauma

Sethe, an escaped slave, is haunted by the ghost of the daughter she killed.

Gone Girl

by Gillian Flynn · 2012 · Thriller / Psychological

AmbiguousCheating (protagonist)Infidelity

On their fifth anniversary, Amy disappears and Nick becomes the prime suspect.

The Silent Patient

by Alex Michaelides · 2019 · Thriller / Psychological

BEViolenceSuicide

Painter Alicia goes silent after killing her husband; therapist Theo tries to make her speak.

Verity

by Colleen Hoover · 2018 · Thriller / Romance

AmbiguousChild deathSexual content

Lowen ghostwrites for comatose author Verity and finds a hidden autobiographical manuscript.

The Girl on the Train

by Paula Hawkins · 2015 · Thriller

HEAlcoholismDomestic abuse

Alcoholic Rachel watches a couple from her train every day — until the wife vanishes.

Big Little Lies

by Liane Moriarty · 2014 · Thriller / Contemporary

HEDomestic abuseSexual assault

Three mothers in a primary-school parent circle become tangled in a death.

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (Mo Dao Zu Shi)

by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu · 2015 · Danmei / Xianxia / LGBTQ+

HEViolenceTorture

Wei Wuxian is reborn 13 years after being driven to his death.

Heaven Official's Blessing (Tian Guan Ci Fu)

by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu · 2017 · Danmei / Xianxia / LGBTQ+

HEViolenceSelf-harm motif

Xie Lian, ascended thrice, meets ghost king Hua Cheng — bound across 800 years.

The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System

by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu · 2014 · Danmei / Transmigration / LGBTQ+

HEDub-conViolence

A reader transmigrates into the villain of a stallion novel he hated.

Thousand Autumns (Qian Qiu)

by Meng Xi Shi · 2017 · Danmei / Wuxia / LGBTQ+

HEMartial violence

A Daoist sect leader and a young demonic-sect heir cross paths in the Northern-Southern dynasties wuxia world.

Stars of Chaos (Sha Po Lang)

by Priest · 2015 · Danmei / Steampunk / LGBTQ+

HEWar violenceMajor side character death

In a steampunk Da Liang empire, a general and a prince fight to save the realm together.

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (2ha)

by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou · 2017 · Danmei / Xianxia / LGBTQ+

HESexual violenceTorture

Mo Ran is reborn into his youth — back when his master was still alive.

Spice and Wolf

by Isuna Hasekura · 2006 · Light Novel / Fantasy / Mercantile

HE

Medieval traveling merchant Lawrence and the wise wolf Holo journey together.

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai

by Hajime Kamoshida · 2014 · Light Novel / School / Supernatural

HESocial ostracism

High-schooler Sakuta meets an upperclassman in a bunny-girl outfit whom no one else can see.

Re:Zero — Starting Life in Another World

by Tappei Nagatsuki · 2014 · Light Novel / Isekai

OERepeated deathGore

Subaru is sent to another world where his death resets time.

Toradora!

by Yuyuko Takemiya · 2006 · Light Novel / School / Romance

HEFamily neglect

Mean-looking Ryuuji and tiny Taiga team up to win their respective crushes.

Your Name

by Makoto Shinkai · 2016 · Light Novel / Fantasy / Romance

HEMass-casualty disaster

A city boy and a country girl swap bodies and try to stop a comet disaster.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky · 1999 · YA / Coming-of-age

BittersweetChild sexual abuseFriend's suicide

High-school freshman Charlie writes letters about his year.

The Catcher in the Rye

by J. D. Salinger · 1951 · Classic / Coming-of-age

AmbiguousDepression

Expelled Holden wanders New York for three days.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

by Betty Smith · 1943 · Classic / Coming-of-age

HEAlcoholism

Francie grows up in an immigrant family in early-1900s Brooklyn.

Where the Red Fern Grows

by Wilson Rawls · 1961 · Classic / Middle Grade

BittersweetPet deathAnimal death

Young Billy and his two coonhounds, Old Dan and Little Ann.

Marley & Me

by John Grogan · 2005 · Memoir / Pet

BittersweetPet deathGrief

The Grogans adopt 'the world's worst dog', Marley.

The Art of Racing in the Rain

by Garth Stein · 2008 · Contemporary / Pet

BittersweetPet deathFamily conflict

A racing driver and his dog Enzo — narrated by the dog.

Madame Bovary

by Gustave Flaubert · 1856 · Classic / Literary

BEInfidelity (protagonist)Cheating

Emma, a country doctor's wife, chases romantic fantasies through two affairs and slides into ruin.

Anna Karenina

by Leo Tolstoy · 1877 · Classic / Literary

BEInfidelity (protagonist)Cheating

Anna leaves her marriage for Count Vronsky as Tolstoy threads in Levin's parallel love story across imperial Russia.

The Bridges of Madison County

by Robert James Waller · 1992 · Romance / Contemporary

BittersweetInfidelity (protagonist)Cheating

Iowa farmwife Francesca shares four intense days with photographer Robert before choosing her family.

The Great Gatsby

by F. Scott Fitzgerald · 1925 · Classic / Literary

BECheating (multiple)Infidelity

Jazz-Age Long Island: Gatsby tries to reclaim Daisy and is pulled into the betrayals around Tom's marriage.

The End of the Affair

by Graham Greene · 1951 · Literary / Postwar British

BittersweetInfidelity (protagonist)Cheating

During the Blitz, novelist Bendrix's affair with his friend's wife Sarah ends abruptly; he investigates why.

Little Fires Everywhere

by Celeste Ng · 2017 · Contemporary / Family

BittersweetInfidelity (side character)Cheating (background)

In 1990s Shaker Heights, a mysterious artist and her daughter collide with the Richardson family.

Fates and Furies

by Lauren Groff · 2015 · Literary / Marriage

BittersweetCheating (both sides)Infidelity

Twenty-four years of Lotto and Mathilde's marriage told twice — his bright version, then her dark one.

The Paper Palace

by Miranda Cowley Heller · 2021 · Contemporary / Literary

AmbiguousInfidelity (protagonist)Cheating

Over 24 hours Elle must choose between her husband Peter and childhood love Jonas, with 50 years of memory in between.

Conversations with Friends

by Sally Rooney · 2017 · Contemporary / Literary

OEInfidelity (protagonist)Cheating

Dublin student Frances begins an affair with married actor Nick, unsettling her bond with friend Bobbi.

Daisy Jones & The Six

by Taylor Jenkins Reid · 2019 · Music / Historical Fiction

BittersweetEmotional cheatingEmotional infidelity

Oral-history of a 1970s rock band: Daisy and lead singer Billy's chemistry strains Billy's marriage to Camila.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

by Milan Kundera · 1984 · Literary / Philosophical

BittersweetSerial infidelity (protagonist)Cheating

Around the Prague Spring, surgeon Tomas oscillates between wife Tereza and mistress Sabina against a political backdrop.

Book Lovers

by Emily Henry · 2022 · Romance / Publishing

HEFamily illness & lossSexual content

A sharp-edged literary agent keeps colliding with her editor-nemesis on a small-town vacation, and finds the softness behind both their armors.

Happy Place

by Emily Henry · 2023 · Romance / Fake Dating

HEParental loss (background)Sexual content

A secretly broken-up couple fakes still-engaged through one last Maine vacation to spare their friend group.

Lessons in Chemistry

by Bonnie Garmus · 2022 · Romance / Feminist / 1960s

BittersweetSexual assaultPartner death

A 1960s woman chemist pushed out of academia accidentally becomes a TV cooking-show host who teaches housewives via chemistry.

The Flatshare

by Beth O'Leary · 2019 · Romance / Contemporary

HEEmotional abuse / gaslighting

Two strangers sharing one bed on opposite shifts fall for each other through Post-it notes.

The Rosie Project

by Graeme Simsion · 2013 · Romance / Comedy

HEMild stereotyping

A highly structured genetics professor designs a wife-finding questionnaire and meets the woman who breaks every rule on it.

The Love Hypothesis

by Ali Hazelwood · 2021 · Romance / Academia / STEM

HESexual harassment (advisor)Sexual content

A PhD student fake-kisses the department's grumpiest professor and accidentally launches a fake-dating arc.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

by Taylor Jenkins Reid · 2017 · Romance / LGBTQ+ / Hollywood

BittersweetDomestic abusePartner death

A reclusive Hollywood icon picks an unknown journalist to tell the truth about her seven marriages — and the one love of her life.

The Spanish Love Deception

by Elena Armas · 2021 · Romance / Fake Dating

HEWorkplace harassment (side)Sexual content

To survive her sister's wedding alongside her ex, an engineer drags her American coworker to Spain as a fake boyfriend.

The Unhoneymooners

by Christina Lauren · 2019 · Romance / Fake Dating

HESexual content

After a wedding food-poisoning wipeout, two enemies inherit the bride's Hawaii honeymoon.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown

by Talia Hibbert · 2019 · Romance / Chronic Illness

HEChronic illnessEx emotional abuse

A woman with fibromyalgia writes a 'get a life' list and recruits her tattooed superintendent as her partner-in-crime.

The Soulmate Equation

by Christina Lauren · 2021 · Romance / Sci-Lite

HESexual content

A statistician single mom is matched 98% by a DNA-based dating app — to the app's reclusive founder.

In Five Years

by Rebecca Serle · 2020 · Romance / Friendship / Magical Realism

BEBest friend deathCancer

On the night of her engagement Dannie has a vivid five-years-later dream — and her real life starts drifting off-script.

If I Stay

by Gayle Forman · 2009 · YA / Contemporary

BittersweetFamily deathGrief

After a car crash, 17-year-old cellist Mia hovers between life and death, replaying her family and first love.

Eleanor & Park

by Rainbow Rowell · 2013 · YA / 1980s

OEStepfather abuseBullying

Omaha, 1986. A bullied, abused Eleanor and a reluctant Park slowly find each other on the school bus.

Looking for Alaska

by John Green · 2005 · YA / Boarding School

BittersweetFriend deathPossible suicide

Miles transfers to an Alabama boarding school and meets the mercurial Alaska Young.

An Ember in the Ashes

by Sabaa Tahir · 2015 · YA / Fantasy / Dystopia

OEGraphic violenceThreat of SA

Enslaved Laia infiltrates the Empire's brutal military academy to save her brother; cadet Elias plots to escape it.

Shadow and Bone

by Leigh Bardugo · 2012 · YA / Fantasy

HECombat violence

Orphan Alina discovers she's a rare Sun Summoner and is pulled into Ravka's factional politics.

Cinder

by Marissa Meyer · 2012 · YA / Sci-fi / Fairy-tale Retelling

OEMild violence

In New Beijing, cyborg mechanic Cinder repairs a prince's android and is pulled into a plague and lunar conspiracy.

Scythe

by Neal Shusterman · 2016 · YA / Dystopia

OEExecution scenesMass death

In a post-mortal world, the only sanctioned killers — Scythes — take on two reluctant teen apprentices.

Legend

by Marie Lu · 2011 · YA / Dystopia

OEViolencePlague

In a fractured future America, prodigy June is sent to hunt fugitive Day — and uncovers the regime's lies.

The Fifth Season

by N. K. Jemisin · 2015 · Fantasy / Apocalyptic

OEChild deathIntimate-partner violence

On the cataclysm-prone continent of the Stillness, orogenes who can quell earthquakes are oppressed and feared.

The Poppy War

by R. F. Kuang · 2018 · Fantasy / Military / China-inspired

BESexual violenceWar

Orphan Rin enters a military academy, discovers shaman-fire powers, and is consumed by total war.

Jade City

by Fonda Lee · 2017 · Fantasy / Urban / Mafia Family

BittersweetGun & martial violenceFamily death

In a city-state where jade grants martial powers, the Kaul family fights a rival clan for control.

The Lies of Locke Lamora

by Scott Lynch · 2006 · Fantasy / Heist

BittersweetTortureGore

Camorr's smartest grifter Locke pulls a con, only to crash into a far bigger conspiracy.

Uprooted

by Naomi Novik · 2015 · Fantasy / Fairy-tale

HEViolenceSexual content

Every decade, the village must give a girl to the wizard called the Dragon — this time it's clumsy Agnieszka.

Gideon the Ninth

by Tamsyn Muir · 2019 · Fantasy / Space Gothic / LGBTQ+

BEMajor character deathGore

Foul-mouthed swordswoman Gideon is forced to escort her detested necromancer to a gothic space trial.

The Bear and the Nightingale

by Katherine Arden · 2017 · Fantasy / Russian Folklore

BittersweetFamily deathStepmother abuse

Medieval rural Rus'; Vasya can see house-spirits and clashes with the new priest's purifying faith.

The Sword of Kaigen

by M. L. Wang · 2019 · Fantasy / Military / Family

BittersweetChild deathWar

A mountain village of sword-mages, sheltered by imperial lies, faces real invasion and forced truths.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

by Stieg Larsson · 2005 · Thriller / Nordic Noir

BittersweetGraphic sexual violenceViolence

A disgraced journalist and a hacker investigate a 40-year-old disappearance and tear open a family's darkness.

In the Woods

by Tana French · 2007 · Thriller / Procedural

OEChild deathViolence

A Dublin detective investigates a girl's murder in the same woods where his childhood friends vanished 20 years ago.

The Wife Between Us

by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen · 2018 · Thriller / Domestic

OECoercive controlStalking

An ex-wife stalks her ex-husband's new fiancée — but the narrative keeps flipping.

The Couple Next Door

by Shari Lapena · 2016 · Thriller / Domestic

BEInfant abductionMarital abuse

A couple comes home from a dinner party next door to find their baby gone.

Behind Closed Doors

by B. A. Paris · 2016 · Thriller / Domestic Abuse

HEExtreme domestic abuse / captivityThreat to child

The perfect couple from the outside — and a wife held hostage on the inside.

The Last Mrs. Parrish

by Liv Constantine · 2017 · Thriller / Domestic / Revenge

BittersweetDomestic abuseInfidelity

An ambitious woman targets a wealthy couple, aiming to replace the wife.

Qiang Jin Jiu

by Tang Jiuqing · 2019 · Danmei / Historical Politics / LGBTQ+

HEWarTorture

A frontier general and a fallen noble use — and shelter — each other through court intrigue.

Dinghai Fusheng Records

by Fei Tian Ye Xiang · 2017 · Danmei / Xuanhuan / LGBTQ+

HECombat violenceSide deaths

Late-Song China; demons rise. A young swordsman and an amnesiac demon king set out to subdue them.

Case File Compendium

by Shui Qian Cheng · 2017 · Danmei / Contemporary / LGBTQ+

HEDubious consentSelf-harm

An amnesiac returns and faces the obsessive man who once both loved and broke him.

Guardian

by Priest · 2012 · Danmei / Urban Fantasy / LGBTQ+

HEViolenceSacrificial deaths

A special-investigations chief and an envoy of the underworld span lifetimes together.

Liu Yao: The Ravages of Time

by Priest · 2015 · Danmei / Xianxia / LGBTQ+

HECombat violence

In a fading-magic era, a young sect leader and four disciples solve cosmic puzzles.

My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU (Oregairu)

by Wataru Watari · 2011 · Light Novel / School

HEMild depressive themes

A loner is dragged into the Service Club, dissecting the falseness of high-school youth one request at a time.

Classroom of the Elite

by Syougo Kinugasa · 2015 · Light Novel / School / Psychological

UnknownManipulationBullying

At a class-ranked elite school, the deceptively bland Ayanokouji manipulates classmates from the shadows.

Overlord

by Kugane Maruyama · 2012 · Light Novel / Isekai

UnknownMassacreTorture

When the game shuts down, a guild master is transported to another world with his NPCs — and becomes its true overlord.

Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World

by Tappei Nagatsuki · 2014 · Light Novel / Isekai / Time Loop

UnknownRepeated deathSelf-killing to reset

Subaru has 'Return by Death' — every death rewinds him to a checkpoint to try again to save those around him.

Pachinko

by Min Jin Lee · 2017 · Literary / Family Saga

BittersweetRacismFamily death

An early-20th-century Korean girl marries into Japan; four generations endure discrimination — an epic saga.

A Gentleman in Moscow

by Amor Towles · 2016 · Literary / Historical

HEAuthoritarian backdrop

After the Russian Revolution, Count Rostov is sentenced to house arrest in Moscow's Metropol Hotel and rebuilds a life within four walls.

Station Eleven

by Emily St. John Mandel · 2014 · Literary / Post-apocalyptic

BittersweetPandemicMass death

Twenty years after a flu pandemic, a traveling Shakespeare troupe wanders a depopulated North America.

Lincoln in the Bardo

by George Saunders · 2017 · Literary / Experimental

BittersweetChild deathGrief

After Lincoln's son dies, he lingers in the bardo; the graveyard's ghosts narrate the father's grief.

Old Yeller

by Fred Gipson · 1956 · Classic / Middle Grade

BittersweetPet deathAnimal death

A 1860s Texas boy and the stray yellow dog who becomes his.

A Dog's Purpose

by W. Bruce Cameron · 2010 · Contemporary / Pet

HEPet deathGrief

A dog searches for its purpose across multiple reincarnations, narrating its own story.

Watership Down

by Richard Adams · 1972 · Classic / Animal Fable

BittersweetPet deathAnimal death

A band of rabbits flees their warren on an epic search for a new home.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

by Mark Haddon · 2003 · Contemporary / Literary

BittersweetPet deathAnimal death

Christopher, an autistic teenager, investigates the killing of his neighbour's dog Wellington.

Flowers for Algernon

by Daniel Keyes · 1966 · Science Fiction / Literary

BEPet deathAnimal death

Charlie, an intellectually disabled adult, undergoes an experimental intelligence procedure first tested on a lab mouse, Algernon.

A Dog Named Christmas

by Greg Kincaid · 2008 · Contemporary / Pet

BittersweetPet deathGrief

A developmentally disabled young man fosters a shelter dog over the holidays.

The Call of the Wild

by Jack London · 1903 · Classic / Animal

BittersweetPet deathAnimal death

Buck, a domesticated dog from the south, is kidnapped to the Yukon and gradually returns to the wild.

My Dog Skip

by Willie Morris · 1995 · Memoir / Pet

BittersweetPet deathGrief

A Southern American boy and his dog Skip — a coming-of-age memoir.

Shiloh

by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor · 1991 · Middle Grade / Pet

HEPet death (threatened)Animal cruelty

Young Marty takes in an abused beagle named Shiloh.

The Dog Stars

by Peter Heller · 2012 · Post-apocalyptic / Literary

BittersweetPet deathGrief

After a pandemic collapses society, pilot Hig lives at a small airfield with his dog Jasper.