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Original poster

Books that make you cry

91 replies

Scimitarsandstars · 20/06/2025 12:46

I just finished Earth and Heaven by Sue Gee. I first tried to read it about 12 years ago but gave up as I was finding it too upsetting.

I picked it up again a few days ago as I love her writing and this book is so beautifully written. Once again, I was in floods of tears , although this time, I have finished it. I don't remember another book that has made me cry so much. I don't regret reading it though. It is so thoughtful and moving, and so evocative about the post WW1 period (although I am slightly doubtful about the ending).

So I am wondering, has anyone else read a book recently that's made you sob? And did it put you off reading it?

OP posts:
SoeurFayre · 26/06/2025 10:17

Christine Dwyer Hickey’s “Last train from Liguria”

Mollysocks · 26/06/2025 10:13

Oh also, The Art of Racing in the Rain 😭

Mollysocks · 26/06/2025 10:10

Still Alice - I read it when my Nan was suffering with dementia and it was so poignant and so much of it rang true. The bit about thinking the mat was a black hole really got me, it was just so close to something we’d experienced.

sherrycirilo · 26/06/2025 10:09

Another book about a dog which Made me cry my eyes out especially because it was a true story is Merle's Door: Lessons from Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote. Check it out. Ted Kerasote is a well known writer for Audubon, National Geographic, etc.

englishmummyinwales · 26/06/2025 10:07

Also I didn't actually cry at the end of A God in Ruins but I remember feeling like I'd been punched in the stomach. I had to have a lie down to contemplate it all!

englishmummyinwales · 26/06/2025 10:06

The Light between Oceans by ML Stedman. I don't cry at many books but that made me sob.

Also I didn't read Goodnight Mr Tom as a child so had no forewarning of a certain scene regarding under the stairs. I was reading it to my then young children and had to stop, compose myself and then read on. My voice still cracked and I had a quick weep in the bathroom afterwards.

SlightlyJaded · 25/06/2025 19:20

Have started All the Colours of the Dark today (on the back of this thread). Tissues close by....

worrisomeasset · 24/06/2025 21:51

I read Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo to my son as his bedtime story when he was 8 or 9 and the final chapter reduced me to a blubbering wreck. A couple of years later, his teacher read it to the class and she also was in floods of tears during the final chapter. He was able to assure her that the same thing had happened when his mum had read him the story.

Philandbill · 24/06/2025 21:43

Hamnet
A Song for Issy Bradley
A God in Ruins

Howled over all three.

Starlight1984 · 24/06/2025 15:40

LibbyOTV · 23/06/2025 23:05

The Poisonwood Bible must be one of the best books ever. Think about it all the time esp with everything going on in DRC

Show quote history

I have had the Poisonwood Bible on my bookshelf (unread) for years now. I think I might have to make a start on it after this thread.

LibbyOTV · 23/06/2025 23:05

StripeySuperNova · 23/06/2025 22:10

Michael Rosen's Sad Book. Read that after a friend's 2nd suicide attempt. Just standing in the book shop, sobbing. I had to buy it and I've cried over again re-reading it.

And The Poisonwood Bible. Read it on a train. Can't remember where I was travelling now but I was crying so hard I couldn't see the words to kep reading.

The Poisonwood Bible must be one of the best books ever. Think about it all the time esp with everything going on in DRC

LibbyOTV · 23/06/2025 23:03

Yes Burial Rites also made me cry! I cry a lot at books so looking through the list is more helpful then trying to remember one of the many books that made me cry.

Noughts and crosses I remember going into my mums bedroom as a young teen after hours of crying in my bed in the middle of the night as I just couldn't stop.

SlightlyJaded · 23/06/2025 23:01

thesecondmrsdewinter20 · 23/06/2025 20:41

The end of A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson made me sob! And again when I reread it.

Came on to say the same thing. I was on the tube and I just burst into tears once I understood. Big snotty, sobby tears.

Also Hamnet
Also Velveteen Bastard Rabbit
Also the end of Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (howled)

LibbyOTV · 23/06/2025 23:01

Wafflemeister · 23/06/2025 14:25

A thousand splendid suns had me crying more than once.

Yes! Anything by Khaled Husseini, especially And the Mountains Echoed and the Bookseller of Kabul

CassandraWebb · 23/06/2025 22:57

All Quiet on the Western Front.
I read it on a train and was v embarrassed as I had tears streaming down my face!

Princessdebthe1st · 23/06/2025 22:55

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd. - do not read the ending in a public place! I absolutely sobbed!

raspberryberet7 · 23/06/2025 22:53

blueshedhermit · 23/06/2025 20:51

All the Colours of the Dark

Best book I’ve ever read

Honon · 23/06/2025 22:41

Good Wives
Black Beauty
Watership Down
Wolf Hall, in the same way Hamnet upset me
The Underground Railroad

keeptalkinghappytalk · 23/06/2025 22:16

Andrea Levy' s Small Island is beautiful and sad when the main character gives up her baby.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak... poor Lisa as she goes through war and is found years later...

StripeySuperNova · 23/06/2025 22:10

Michael Rosen's Sad Book. Read that after a friend's 2nd suicide attempt. Just standing in the book shop, sobbing. I had to buy it and I've cried over again re-reading it.

And The Poisonwood Bible. Read it on a train. Can't remember where I was travelling now but I was crying so hard I couldn't see the words to kep reading.

oneplus2is3 · 23/06/2025 22:03

The Island of Sea Women- Lisa See. Stunning but also gut wrenching. Blubbed for days and still think about it years later.

whynotmereally · 23/06/2025 21:53

The miraculous journey of Edward tulane

the last bear

(both children’s books)

whynotmereally · 23/06/2025 21:51

After the end Clare Mackintosh

next of kin Kia Abdulah (gut wrenching)

WisePearlPoet · 23/06/2025 20:52

Every last one by Anna Quindlen, only book that has ever made me cry. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah almost made me cry but I was definitely welling up

orangetriangle · 23/06/2025 20:51

the women kirsten hannah

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