Read ‘em and weep?
Some books make you laugh, some books make you think - and then there are the books that leave you an emotional wreck (in the best way!)
You have to be in the right mood, of course, but if you're ready for something to tug at your heartstrings, the nine novels on this list will do the trick. Whether through loss, heartbreak, lost love, or just the sheer beauty of the story, they're guaranteed to stay with you long after you finish the final page.
Borrow a book that will take you on an emotional rollercoaster - click the titles to reserve.
------------------------------------------
1. A Little Life – Hanya Yanagihara
When four graduates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they're broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their centre of gravity.
Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realise, is Jude himself. By midlife he's a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he'll not only be unable to overcome - but that will define his life forever.
2. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong
This is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's history that began before he was born. It tells of Vietnam, of the lasting impact of war, and of his family's struggle to forge a new future. And it serves as a doorway into parts of Little Dog's life his mother has never known - episodes of bewilderment, fear and passion - all the while moving closer to an unforgettable revelation.
3. The Book Thief – Marcus Zusak
It is 1939. In Nazi Germany, the country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier - and will become busier still. By her brother's graveside, nine year old Liesel's life is changed forever when she picks up a single object, abandoned in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, and this is her first act of book thievery.
So begins Liesel's love affair with books and words, and soon she is stealing from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library... wherever there are books to be found. But these are dangerous times, and when Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, nothing will ever be the same again.
4. The Heart’s Invisible Furies – John Boyne
Cyril Avery is not a real Avery, or at least that’s what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn’t a real Avery, then who is he?
Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple (via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun) Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead.
At the mercy of fortune and coincidence, he will spend a lifetime attempting to know himself and to discover where he came from – and over his three score years and ten, will struggle to discover an identity, a home, a country, a place of belonging.
5. A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini
Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed. Nearly two decades later, a friendship grows between Mariam and a local teenager, Laila, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter.
When the Taliban take over, life becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear.
Yet love can move a person to act in unexpected ways, and lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism.
6. Me Before You – Jojo Moyes
Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun teashop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.
What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.
Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and joyless now, and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.
What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.
7. The Light Between Oceans – M.L Steadman
Shattered by his experiences in the World War I trenches, veteran Tom Sherbourne returns to his home in Australia to his wife Isabel. Looking for restoration and peace the couple move to an isolated lighthouse where they try to rebuild their lives, and long for a child that never comes.
Then, one day, a boat washes ashore with a baby inside – a gift that offers the hope of a future they’ve longed for. But the consequences of their actions may be more far-reaching than they could have ever imagined.
8. The Beekeeper of Aleppo – Christy Lefteri
Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo - until the unthinkable happens. When all they care for is destroyed by war, they are forced to escape. As Nuri and Afra travel through a broken world, they must confront not only the pain of their own unspeakable loss, but dangers that would overwhelm the bravest of souls. Above all - and perhaps this is the hardest thing they face - they must journey to find each other again.
9. Everything I Never Told You – Celeste NG
Lydia is the favourite child of Marilyn and James Lee; a girl who inherited her mother's bright blue eyes and her father's jet-black hair. Her parents are determined that Lydia will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue - in Marilyn's case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James's case that Lydia be popular at school, a girl with a busy social life and the centre of every party.
But Lydia is under pressures that have nothing to do with growing up in 1970s small town Ohio. Her father is an American born of first-generation Chinese immigrants, and his ethnicity, and hers, make them conspicuous in any setting.
When Lydia's body is found in the local lake, James is consumed by guilt and sets out on a reckless path that may destroy his marriage. Marilyn, devastated and vengeful, is determined to make someone accountable, no matter what the cost. Lydia's older brother, Nathan, is convinced that local bad boy Jack is somehow involved. But it's the youngest in the family - Hannah - who observes far more than anyone realises and who may be the only one who knows what really happened.
Looking for more reading inspiration? Check out more from the blog here.
