The saddest book you've ever read . . .

[expatinscotland]

or didn't finish b/c it was just too depressing?

'White Oleander' by Janet Fitch

[MarsLady]

Lovely Bones by Alice Seobold

[sparklymieow]

hannah gift....... so so sad.......

[MarsLady]

Oh and The Colour Purple

[LIZS]

Lovely Bones and Lucky .

[hunkermunker]

Reread Lovely Bones recently (read it the first time before I had DS) - thought it was sad the first time, cried BUCKETS the second time!

[anorak]

Definitely Helen Dunmore's books. The Siege made my cry, but Mourning Ruby made me howl every time I read it. Beautiful, and so therapeutic.

[saadia]

Bought Lovely bones when pregnant (which was a bit silly) but just could not get past the beginning, it was sooo painful. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to read it.

[mancmum]

before I say goodbye by Justine Picardie... I have read it so many times I could quote it.. how that woman could write such beautifully eloquent prose when must have been broken by the thought of leaving her 2 kids is beyond me...

The line about "I guess the future will get on without me, it's just that I'll miss it so" still kills me...

[docket]

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks.

[beansmum]

I don't think I've ever read a truly sad book, I've read some that are upsetting, but not in a 'oh that's sad' way, and some that make me cry because I cry at anything involving babies, pregnant women or people getting married, but nothing sad.

[jessicasmummy]

another vote for the lovely bones and lucky.... addictive reading but so sad.

[huggybear]

i think it was called 'red sky at night' about a girl whos brother was born disabled but she learnt to love him before he died. its a teenagers book and i read it years ago. a bitter sweet story

[edodgy]

lovely bones by alice seabold, before i say goodbye by justine picardie and my sisters keeper by jodie picoult (apart from the end which i thought was a bit danielle steele!.

[bran]

On the beach by Nevil Shute, very, very depressing.

[anorak]

docket if you liked Birdsong you'll like Charlotte Gray too. It made me cry and haunted me for days.

[valleygirl]

Paula by Isabella Illende - all the more poignant because it is based on the true story of her daughter's fatal illness.

[valleygirl]

Isabel Allende even

[Donbean]

Lovely bones,
Angelas Ashes,
fat ladies club
Im alright daddy
Paddy Clarke hahaha

[anorak]

And talking of Roddy Doyle on the funniest books thread, how about The Woman Who Walked into Doors for this one?

[Donbean]

ooh yes, i read that and cried allot.
Have any of you read the fat ladies club?

[Prufrock]

His Dark Materials - the last one in the trilogy particularly. I got them all for Xmas and finished the last one in bed on 30th December when dh and dd were away. I started crying about 3/4 of the way through, when you realise what's going to have to happen at the end.

[Pruni]

Message withdrawn

[Pollyanna]

birdsong, and The Red Tent. also, 'tis. The Grapes of Wrath too.

[lilibet]

A tale of Two Cities gets me every time "It is a far far better thing I do......

And Watership Down - those bloody rabbits - weep buckets at that

[jodee]

Ooh, pruni and prufrock, I'm exactly the same, whizzed through the first two books and never got past the last third of Subtle Knife, too sad.