Novels dealing with grief

Marian Keyes' novel Anybody Out There is great - it deals with the loss of a husband.

It's not deep literature, but I once read one called Good Grief about a woman who lost her husband. Wasn't released here, picked it up in the states. Think this is it - www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Grief-Lolly-Winston/dp/0446694843

... That's funny about H is for Hawk. It felt to me like a book about hawks, mental illness & HM living with what it is to be HM, not about grief, at all. But I realise the illness was triggered by her dad's death.

I just finished & recommend The Comfort of Others. Made me cry, anyway. Hope & renewal are themes, too.

I also liked Tell the Wolves I'm Home

Seconding a PP's recommendation of H is for Hawk- I loved this book, - it helped me cope with my Dad's death. Very sorry about your Mum

If you like poetry, you could try The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing which is a collection by many authors put together by Kevin Young.

I highly recommend The Iceberg by Marion Coutts, about the death of her husband, and A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, about loss in the context of wartime (the war in Chechnya). Also Wild and Moon Tiger already mentioned above.

Sorry for your loss OP

Have you read 'Where my Heart Used to Beat' by Sebastian Faulkes? It's not about grief as such, more about loss. I read it after my dad died last year and it just spoke to my soul.

I'd recommend The Sea by John Banville.

My two have been mentioned 'After you'd gone' and 'Anybody out there'. Also CS Lewis A Grief Observed (not fiction).

What I Loved completely floored me. The examination of grief is incredibly powerful.

Also, years ago, I remember Moon Tiger (which nobody seems to talk about now) doing similar but for different reasons as it almost comes at it sideways.

The love verb by Jane green....yes it's a 'chick' book but I've read it more than 4 times now and it's one I can always see myself going back too.

'Wild' by Cheryl Strayed is about a woman who walks the Appalachian trail in an attempt to come to terms with the loss of her mother. I found it really moving.

Sorry for your loss, OP.

A second vote here for Tell the Wolves I'm Home - it's a very interesting, unusual story about a teenage girl in New York in the 80s, who is absolutely devastated when her favourite and much-loved gay famous artist uncle dies. His secret young lover contacts her after the death, and they develop a friendship.

But my top vote for a book on this subject is The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot, by Angus Wilson. An absolute masterpiece.

Sorry about the loss of your mum. My wonderful mum died 2 years ago. I've just finished reading Man and Boy by Tony Parsons. Not directly about death but involves death of a parent. It had me sobbing but I find that helps me, it also had me laughing and that is life. I have read The 5 People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom and found that made me think differently but that was before mum died. Take care.

I'm sorry about your mum.

I agree about the cathartic powers of books. Two recent reads that brought back feelings (made me howl) about losing my mum 20 years ago are Carol Rifka Brunt's Tell the Wolves I'm Home and Matthew Thomas We Are Not Ourselves.

I've recently started Decca Aitkenhead's book about her partner drowning in All at Sea, as years ago I read her account in The Guardian of losing her mother at 8 and thought it was the most moving, visceral, personal thing I'd ever read.

I second Maggie O'Farrell After You'd Gone.
And I know this is going to sound a bit off the wall but the Harry Potter books. I think they are a lot about grief.

Hi. Sorry to hear about your Mum. My Mum died in Jan from a long battle with Alzheimer's. I always read aloud to her right up to the end - we were half way through Wuthering Heights which she loved. I aim to finish the book before the end of the year but can't bring myself to do it yet. I have found it comforting to reread some of her favourite authors and will definitely take a look at some of the books suggested by others here. Thanks for starting the thread, books can be very cathartic!

The light between the Oceans, is a very sensitive book dealing with loss.

Paul Auster wrote the Invention of Solitude after the death of his father. I'm not to keen of his later work but this is really good. Different though, it deals with secrets in the family. So sorry about your mum. Mine passed away almost 10 years ago, I can't believe it's been so long.

The child in time by Ian Mckeown deals with the loss of a child. A very involving read and does end on a positive note.

Maggie O'Farrell 'After You'd Gone'.

I'm so sorry to hear about your mum. My mum died just over 2 years ago and it would have been her birthday today. I've read lots of grief memoirs over the past 2 years. I've found them very uplifting and really helped

My favourite is last act of love by Cathy retzenbrink. I did floor me but it's essential reading. She's just published a follow up called manual for heartache. It's like a short self help book but it has a huge heart and warmth. It's for anyone who has dealt with any loss.

I just finished when breath become air today. Devastating but it's about celebrating life.

The Joan didion book year of magical thinking is good too.

Also travelling with ghosts by Shannon leone fowler. Amazing book.

My friend gave me grief is a thing with feathers by max porter. It really helped me and brought me comfort.

If none of these give you comfort then I recommend bereavement counselling. I did it and it transformed my thinking and gave me clarity.

Good luck, it's a process you have to go through and there is no right or wrong way to do it just embrace it.

Under an Amber Sky set in Montenegro is one woman's emotional journey after the unexpected loss of her husband

'If the spirit moves you' is a beautiful memoir by Justine Picardi following her sister Ruth Picardis death.

What I loved - Siri Hustvedt

Is anyone there - Marian Keyes

In the springtime of the year by Susan Hill
It's about a young woman's grief following the death of her husband.
I'm sorry about your Mum