Grief

17 books tagged with this warning.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Circe

by Madeline Miller · 2018 · Mythology / Historical

BittersweetSexual violenceGrief

The witch Circe across a thousand years of exile.

Marley & Me

by John Grogan · 2005 · Memoir / Pet

BittersweetPet deathGrief

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

My Dog Skip

by Willie Morris · 1995 · Memoir / Pet

BittersweetPet deathGrief

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

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.

Related categories