The Ultimate Tear-jerker Reading List

When a story is so good that it brings you to tears, you know you’re reading a special book. It takes a very talented writer to create the characters and narrative that can evoke such emotion. This tear-jerker reading list is full with books that explore topics and stories that can prove challenging. To assemble this tear-jerker reading list, I reached out to some of the wonderful authors I’ve interviwed in the past. This panel will help me assemble a tear-jerker reading list with some truly incredible books. Before we discover the tear-jerker reading list, we must first meet that panel of experts…

Alison Littlewood

Alison Littlewood is an author whose latest novel is The Crow Garden, a tale of obsession set amidst Victorian asylums and séance rooms. Her work has been selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club and described as ‘perfect reading for a dark winter’s night*.* Alison’s short stories have been picked for Best British Horror, The Best Horror of the Year and The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror anthologies.

Jill Santopolo

Jill Santopolo is the author of the nationally and internationally bestselling novel The Light We Lost, which has been translated into more than 35 languages and has hit both the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. Jill Santopolo holds a BA in English Literature from Columbia University, an MFA in Writing for Children from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and a certificate in Intellectual Property Law from NYU.

Claire Fullerton

Claire Fullerton is an author who was born in Wayzata, Minnesota but grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. Her debut novel, A Portal in Time was a paranormal mystery about a woman who suspects she has lived before. She followed it with a book she had actually written in previous years, entitled Dancing to an Irish Reel. Her third novel is titled, Mourning Dove and is a Southern Family Saga set in 1970’s and 1980’s Memphis.

Siobhan Curham

Siobhan Curham is an award winning author and motivational speaker. Siobhan is known for her work in the young adult genre, with titles like, Dear Dylan (winner of the Yound Minds Book Award), Shipwrecked, The Moonlight Dreamers and many more. She is also a name associated with high quality writing in publications such as The Guardian and Cosmopolitan, as well as appearing on TV shows like BBC Breakfast and GMTV.

Now, let’s discover a tear-jerker reading list guaranteed to leave you weeping…

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Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey

Alison Littlewood:

I adore this book. It has been one of my favourites for many years. The characters are so quirky and memorable and endearing. Oscar is an innocent, shaped by a strict religious upbringing, yet he develops a love of gambling that shocks his acquaintances. Lucinda is earnest and passionate, struggling to find a place amid the restrictions of nineteenth century society, and finds solace at various card tables. When the two set sail for New South Wales, they are naturally drawn together. I won’t say more about what made me weep – spoilers – but this book is so beautiful that even flicking through the pages now makes me want to read it all over again.

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Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Jill Santopolo:

I first read this book when I was about 10 and sobbed my eyes out. When I read it again in graduate school, I thought I’d be older and stronger. But not true at all. I sobbed even harder then–even after knowing what to expect. The compassionate, powerful way it handle’s a child’s grief is sure to make even the most hardened of adults cry.

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1.

The Prince of Tides

by Pat Conroy

Claire Fullerton:

This brilliantly crafted family saga is written with an eye toward lyrical prose and goes deep into the psyche and suppressed emotional life of narrator Tom Wingo of South Carolina, as he recounts his coming of age in a dysfunctional family where secrets come back to haunt decades later. Never have I read such a thorough treatise on the implacable ties that bind a family, even as they create wounds it takes decades to heal.

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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Siobhan Curham:

The very first book that made me cry was The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. When I thought that Aslan had died I cried my eyes out. I must have only been about ten years old but it had a really lasting effect on me. In that moment I realised just how powerful books could be and I’m sure it helped plant the seed of my dream to one day become an author.

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2.

A Monster Calls

by Patrick Ness

Alison Littlewood:

I love a book that can make me cry. I have a sort of love-fear-awe relationship with this one, though, because it’s a book that can make me properly can’t stop, out of control ugly-cry. Conor already has a monster looming over his life – that of his mother’s illness. Then another shows up, elemental and wild, outside his window, demanding something terrifying and painful from him in return for the stories it tells: it wants the truth. This is a novel about unfathomable loss and all that it entails. Just don’t read the ending in public, in case you weep as much as I did.

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Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Siobhan Curham:

This book made me cry so hard I actually flung it to the floor in distress. My son happened to walk into the room just as I did this and naturally he was hugely concerned to find me sobbing my heart out. He thought someone had died and was distinctly unimpressed when I told him that someone had … in my book. I don’t want to give away any spoilers as I recommend everyone read this brilliant novel, but be prepared for a shock twist that will break your heart in two!

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A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Claire Fullerton:

In this classic, coming-of-age story set at an all-boys, New England boarding school while WWII rages on, this sequestered, insular setting is the place where two friends learn about the dark side of adolescence. Deep friendship is explored along with its underbelly of competition, jealousy, and struggle with self-esteem. A memorable book with well-drawn characters who reverberate through the ages.

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Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Jill Santopolo:

This book had me sobbing so hard I could barely finish reading it. And then I cried at the movie. And cried again while watching the scenes with no sound on my airplane seat neighbor’s TV screen. I wanted so hard for there to be a happily ever after at the end of this book, and convinced myself it might be possible, so when that hope was dashed–it was a tear-fest.

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3.

The Lovely Bones

by Alice Sebold

Alison Littlewood:

This novel is told in the voice of a fourteen year old girl, murdered in the opening pages. Her spirit remains, however, witnessing the devastation left behind as her family struggles to assimilate her disappearance. She watches her parents falling apart, her younger sister growing up as she never can, and she watches her killer as he goes on with his life. The book opens with horror and with tears, but it is redemptive too; love endures, and miracles can happen . . .

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When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Jill Santopolo:

The facts of the story itself–a brilliant surgeon whose life is cut short by lung cancer just as his baby daughter is born–are enough to make anyone cry, but the fact that this is a true story, and that the person who wrote it had already passed on before it was published, had me in tears for him, for his daughter, for his wife, and for all the people I got to know while reading this book who I knew were mourning him.

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To Kill a Mockingbird* by Harper Lee](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060935464/)

Claire Fullerton:

A coming-of-age story that leads nostalgically through the turbulent times of the Deep South, where cultural prejudices and nuances are highlighted in such a manner that, when told through the eyes of youth, are glaring social commentaries based on regional ignorance, assumption, and fear. The author wrote a story whose characters and themes have endless resonance that runs fathoms deep.

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The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller

Siobhan Curham:

This book really appealed to the romantic in me and at the time I read it, I could very much relate to the storyline. Reading about the two main characters’ chance encounter and the passionate love story it sparked made my heart sing but I found the ending so sad I cried my eyes out. This novel perfectly captures the bitter sweet experience of a powerful, once in a lifetime love.

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What books would you add to this tear-jerker reading list? If you enjoyed this, don’t miss our recent reading list, The Best Historical Fiction Novels.