"The art of losing isn't hard to master," wrote poet Elizabeth Bishop. Perhaps she meant that we will all face loss at some point in our lives. In this collection, we have brought together texts that take up the universal experience of grief.
Publication year 1998
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Identity: Mental Health, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Relationships: Siblings, Self Discovery
Tags Mental Illness, Psychological Fiction
Wally Lamb’s I Know This Much Is True centers on the illness of Thomas Birdsey, a middle-aged man who has had schizophrenia for the previous 20 years. Narrated by Thomas’s twin brother, Dominick, the novel opens with Thomas having left the group home where he lives and him cutting off his hand with a knife he took from his stepfather’s weapon collection. Thomas performs this action after reading a Bible verse that commands the reader... Read I Know This Much Is True Summary
Publication year 2014
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Fate, Emotions/Behavior: Grief
Tags Mystery / Crime Fiction, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Published in 2011, I Let You Go is Clare Mackintosh’s debut novel. In 2016 it won Theakson’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. That same year, the French translation won Best International Novel at the Cognac Festival Prix du Polar Awards. In 2017, publisher Little, Brown said it had sold more than one million copies. Mackintosh spent 12 years in the police force before becoming a writer. She has said that a real-life... Read I Let You Go Summary
Publication year 2014
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Art, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Emotions/Behavior: Shame & Pride, Life/Time: Aging, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Life/Time: Coming of Age, Identity: Sexuality, Life/Time: The Past, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Relationships: Fathers, Relationships: Mothers, Relationships: Siblings, Values/Ideas: Fate, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Values/Ideas: Win & Lose
Tags Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Magical Realism, Romance, Realistic Fiction, LGBTQ, Grief / Death, Love / Sexuality, Modern Classic Fiction
I’ll Give You the Sun (2015) is an award-winning novel penned by Jandy Nelson about relationships, art, and destiny. It follows the story of twins Noah and Jude Sweetwine who once shared a close relationship but find themselves barely speaking to each other two years after their mother’s death.Jandy Nelson is an American author who writes young adult fiction. I’ll Give You the Sun is her second novel, which won numerous awards and honors, including... Read I'll Give You the Sun Summary
Publication year 2007
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Identity: Race, Identity: Indigenous, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Identity: Language, Life/Time: Childhood & Youth, Society: Colonialism, Values/Ideas: Win & Lose, Values/Ideas: Literature
Tags Lyric Poem, Education, Arts / Culture, Diversity, History: The Americas, Race / Racism, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, Colonialism / Postcolonialism
Publication year 2022
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Relationships: Mothers, Values/Ideas: Fame, Identity: Mental Health, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Life/Time: Coming of Age
Tags Humor, Modern Classic Fiction, Biography, Mental Illness, Trauma / Abuse / Violence
Publication year 2020
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Grief
Tags Romance, Survival Fiction, Drama / Tragedy, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Action / Adventure
Publication year 2020
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Fate, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Relationships: Friendship
Tags Romance, Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Magical Realism
Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Fathers, Relationships: Siblings, Values/Ideas: Art
Tags Magical Realism, Children's Literature, Humor, Arts / Culture, Fantasy
Publication year 2022
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Relationships: Marriage, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Identity: Disability, Life/Time: Mortality & Death
Tags Grief / Death, Health / Medicine, Biography
Publication year 1850
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Nostalgia, Emotions/Behavior: Determination / Perseverance
Tags Lyric Poem, Grief / Death, Victorian Period
Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s In Memoriam AHH explores the cosmic implications of the death of a college friend (his sister’s fiancé), poet Arthur Henry Hallam, who died quite unexpectedly in 1833 at the age of 22 most likely from a cerebral hemorrhage. The poem is among the most ambitiously conceived philosophical poems in the English language and a monument to the dynamics of how Christians themselves grapple with the thorny question of mortality. The work stands... Read In Memoriam Summary
Publication year 1939
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Natural World: Place, Society: Class, Values/Ideas: Literature, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality
Publication year 2024
Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Joy, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Natural World: Space & The Universe, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Values/Ideas: Science & Technology
Tags Grief / Death, Science / Nature, Philosophy, Philosophy, Biography, Health / Medicine, Religion / Spirituality
Publication year 1983
Genre Short Story, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Friendship, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt
Tags Auto/Biographical Fiction, Grief / Death
American author Amy Hempel wrote the minimalist short story “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried” in 1983. The story is dedicated to Jessica Wolfson, Hempel’s friend who died of a terminal illness. Originally published in TriQuarterly, the story appeared in her first short story collection, Reasons to Live, in 1985.The story is written in the first-person point of view, with minimal detail provided about the narrator. The story is presumed to take place... Read In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried Summary
Publication year 2017
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Siblings
Tags Historical Fiction, Western, Action / Adventure, Immigration / Refugee, Modern Classic Fiction, History: World
Publication year 2023
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Society: War, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Love
Tags Modern Classic Fiction, Romance, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Military / War, Mental Illness, Trauma / Abuse / Violence
Publication year 2012
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Life/Time: Coming of Age
Tags Historical Fiction, Auto/Biographical Fiction, Class, History: Asian, Politics / Government, Social Justice, Vietnam War, Military / War, Asian Literature, History: World, Arts / Culture
In the Shadow of the Banyan (2012) is a historical fiction novel by the Cambodian American author Vaddey Ratner. Set in the 1970s during the Cambodian genocide, the book’s perspective is from Raami, a seven-year-old girl and the daughter of a minor prince whose family is among the millions of Cambodians persecuted by the Khmer Rouge. While Raami’s story hews very closely to Ratner’s own real-life experiences, the author chose to write a work of... Read In The Shadow Of The Banyan Summary
Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Relationships: Friendship, Relationships: Family, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Self Discovery
Tags Realistic Fiction, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Romance, Addiction / Substance Abuse, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2010
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Emotions/Behavior: Loneliness, Identity: Masculinity, Life/Time: The Past, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Self Discovery
Tags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 1998
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Identity: Indigenous, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Natural World: Climate, Natural World: Environment, Natural World: Place, Relationships: Family, Society: Colonialism, Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Values/Ideas: Power & Greed, Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality
Tags Mystery / Crime Fiction
Publication year 2020
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Life/Time: Aging, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Friendship, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Relationships: Siblings, Values/Ideas: Beauty
Tags African American Literature, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Romance