Books about grief, for the first weeks and the long months

If you need someone now

If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, any time, or text 0477 13 11 14. In an emergency call 000. Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636) also answers around the clock.

One change to know about: from 10 August 2026, calls to the national Griefline number (1300 845 745) go to SANE's service enquiries line, weekdays 10am to 8pm. That line helps you find services; it is not a counselling or crisis line, so for immediate support use Lifeline.

For the first weeks

It's OK That You're Not OK, Megan Devine

Devine is a psychotherapist whose partner drowned in 2009, and the book is her refusal of the cheerful advice grieving people get: that everything happens for a reason, that you should be "moving on". It does not try to make grief smaller. It gives you permission for it to be as big as it is. She reads it herself.

A Grief Observed, C. S. Lewis

Lewis wrote these notebooks after his wife, Joy Davidman, died of cancer in 1960, and published them under a pen name the next year. They are raw, angry, sometimes despairing about faith, and very short: under two hours to hear. Brisbane's Libby catalogue lends it. Christian readers will find more in it, but it is not a book of comfort-by-doctrine.

For the long months

Grief Works, Julia Samuel

A British psychotherapist who has worked with bereaved families for decades, telling the stories of people she has counselled after deaths of partners, parents, children and siblings, with practical notes on what helped. It is calm, wise and organised by kind of loss, so you can go straight to yours. She reads it.

Finding Meaning, David Kessler

Kessler co-wrote On Grief and Grieving with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. After his own son died, he wrote this about what he calls a sixth stage: finding meaning after loss. One useful correction it makes in passing: the famous five stages were never meant as a fixed sequence everyone moves through in order.

When Things Fall Apart, Pema Chödrön

A Buddhist nun's short talks for anyone whose life has come apart. Each chapter stands alone, which suits a mind that cannot hold a long book. Not specifically about death, but many grieving people find it.

After losing a partner

The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion

Didion's account of the year after her husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, died suddenly at their dinner table in 2003, while their daughter was critically ill in hospital. It won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2005. It is precise, cool and devastating. Audible Australia's edition is read by Vanessa Redgrave, who played Didion on stage; at about an hour and a half it is far shorter than the book, so check whether you are buying an abridged version before you spend a credit.

Option B, Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant

Sandberg's husband died suddenly in 2015; she wrote this with psychologist Adam Grant about resilience after loss, for herself, her children and her workplace. Part memoir, part research summary. The "Yes, but": its examples come from a very wealthy life and a corporate career, which not every reader will recognise. Brisbane's Libby catalogue lends it.

If you would rather have a story

H Is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald

After her father died suddenly, naturalist Helen Macdonald took on a goshawk and set out to train it. The book braids her grief, the hawk and the life of T. H. White, who also tried to train a goshawk. It won the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2014. She reads it herself.

When a book is not enough

Books keep you company; they are not treatment. If months have passed and you cannot sleep, eat, work or find any relief, or if grief has turned into thoughts of not wanting to be here, talk to your GP. A GP can write a Mental Health Treatment Plan, which gives you Medicare rebates for sessions with a psychologist or counsellor. Grief counsellors and bereavement support groups are often available through hospitals, palliative care services and funeral providers too.

This page is general information only, not health advice.

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