Grief Lending Library

Ira Byock is a leading palliative care physician and longtime public advocate for improving care through the end of life. In this book, Byock teaches us that a degree of emotional healing is always possible and that we can experience a sense of wholeness even in the wake of family strife, personal tragedy, divorce, or in the face of death.

• General

One third of all women who conceive will have at least one miscarriage. This important book offers guidance for the sorrowing and helps them move on. It tackles the tough questions, including "Why did this happen?", and "Should we try again?" as well as exploring options for treatment and emotional healing.

• Death of a Child

• Miscarriage / Stillborn

How do you rebuild a life? In the follow-up to her memoir: A Stolen Life, Jaycee Dugard tells the story of her first experiences after years eighteen years in captivity: the joys that accompanied her newfound freedom and the challenges of making choices for herself. Raw and inspiring, this book reminds us that there can be, as Jaycee writes, happiness after tragedy – if we only seek it out.

• General

• Abduction

A book of poems, each depicting a personal story. Stories witnessed by a Medical Social Worker while working with hospice patients and families.

• General

True stories of the faith and courage of children facing life-threatening illnesses.

• Helping Children

• Religious

It will help answer the question as to whether the funeral is simply a "vestige" of the past or if it still has value today.

• General

• Funeral Rites / Historical

Funeral Service is at a crossroads--trying to maintain the history and tradition of the past while facing a public that demands services that are special, unique and personalized. The author outlines the issues and offers suggestions and solutions that can transform your firm.

• Professional

• Funeral Rites

In this book, Jenny Lisk shares of when her life suddenly changed after her husband was diagnosed with an inoperable brain cancer. Follow her story as she tried to figure out “parenting grieving children, and rebuilding some sort of life for three--out of four--members of her family”. You'll love this poignant memoir because it's heartbreakingly honest, and ultimately hopeful.

• Death of a Partner

• Cancer

A young child discovers a grandparents love grows even after death. After the death of her grandfather, Camillia decides to plant the garden she used to plant with her grandfather. She dresses the scarecrow in grandfathers old clothes and makes the best garden ever.

• Children

• Death of a Grandparent

A gay widower may find that once the shock and initial confusion of losing his partner is over, there are still many hard, lonely, and overwhelming feelings to be worked through. Often, the bereaved feels isolated, and looking around for comfort, realizes that he doesn’t have many resources to turn to. This book is a start.

• Death of Partner

• LGBTQ

While many books a have tackled the topic of Big Pharma, drug addiction, and our increasingly over-medicated society, Generation Rx offers an entirely new look at what the prescription pill epidemic means for today’s youth and the world around them.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Overdose/Professional

This gentle book is about people who have said goodbye and how they did it. Through their stories, one can find ideas, reassurance and the courage to face the death of a loved one.

• General

The authors having both suffered the loss of a spouse at a relatively young age. Their empathy, valuable psychological insights, biblical observations, and male and female perspectives will help you experience grief in the healthiest, most complete way so you can move forward to embrace the new life that is waiting for you.

• Death of a Partner

This bold narrative written by the drummer and lyricist for the band Rush shows how Peart tried to stay alive by staying on the move after the loss of his 19-year-old daughter and his wife.

• Death of a Partner

• Death of a Child

The anticipation of a new baby breathes excitement into a family. But for some parents, joy is replaced with heartache when they learn that their much-loved preborn child may not survive. The information provided will address your fears and offer practical resources to assist you with making decisions.

• Death of a Child

• Perinatal Loss

“…a tool with which we can take the powerful emotions associated with loss and create an experience of value and beauty.”

• General

• Historical

A collection of stories and insights of people who told the author the story of their grief.

• General

The authors memoir of life with his beloved Ginny and the battle with Alzheimer’s that consumed her. From their first meeting in 1943 or Ginny’s final home in a care facility, Artley recounts his story of their marriage, family and careers, came the undeniable evidence of Ginny’s mental decline. Faced with the pain and confusion of Ginny’s illness, Artley and his family had to learn to cope with the grim details and long good-bye of Alzheimer’s disease.

• Alzheimer's Disease

• Partner's Illness / Anticipatory / Before the Death

Ages 1-8. An affecting interpretation of the gift of giving and a serene acceptance of another's capacity to love in return.

• Children

• Historical

Tender, heartbreaking, and eye-opening, the true stories in this New York Times bestseller offer a window into the world beyond and life after death.

• General

An uplifting tribute to the human spirit -- to the nurses, the doctors, the parents and relatives, and especially the children at University Hospital Center.

• Professionals

• Historical

This book guides readers to understand how to offer comfort to women who suffer through broken relationships, discouragement, loneliness, spouse abuse, childhood sexual abuse, loss and grief, suicide, and more.

• General

• Religious

Jon Katz addresses the difficult but necessary topic of saying goodbye to a beloved pet. Drawing on personal experiences, stories from fellow pet owners, and philosophical reflections, Katz provides support for those in mourning.

• Death of a Pet

Patty Dann had been married almost 10 years to her husband when he was suddenly diagnosed with a fatal brain cancer. In this memoir, Dann explains how the plans they'd made would abruptly come to an end. Worse, Dann had no idea how she'd explain to their three-year-old son.

• Anticipatory / Before the Death

• Death of a Partner

A ringing affirmation of the pleasure, accomplishment and fulfillment within the grasp of those who prefer to remain youthful despite advancing years.

• General

• Older Adults / Historical

Describes what happens to us whenever we lose someone or something important.

• General

• Historical

Designed to help adults who work with groups of children in their efforts to assist surviving children to cope with the emotional stresses with result when a friend dies.

• Helping Children

Elizabeth Meyer stunned her family and friends when she applied for a position at one of New York’s most celebrated funeral homes. It wasn’t the typical career path for a 24-year-old college grad but after planning her own father’s funeral – swapping in peonies for lilies and the Rolling Stones for organ dirges – Elizabeth realized she could help others celebrate the lives of their loved ones. Soon she was making arrangements for movie stars, musicians, matriarchs, moguls – and making quite a name for herself – as the city’s premier fashionista turned funeral planner.

• General

• Death of a Father / Funeral Rites

Teaches how a eulogy can help us in difficult times of grief. This book walks readers through the writing process to help them develop powerful and personal eulogies. It also helps readers learn how to deliver the eulogy effectively.

• General

• Funeral Rites

Ages 3 and up. Explores the pain and grief of saying goodbye. Even more important, The Goodbye Boat provides a message of hope that sadness will ease and that death is not the end.

• Children

Goodbye Jeanine is a faith journey from the despair of a family member’s suicide back to hope and joy. This book reveals how Sackett learned to survive the mixed emotions of loss, anger, guilt, fear, and shame-and how you can too.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Suicide

A deeply personal and moving story uniquely told from child's perspective.

• Children

• Miscarriage/ Stillborn

From the moment pets come into our lives, we know the day will arrive when we have to say farewell. Still, we are never emotionally prepared for it. Kowalski takes you on a journey of healing, offering warmth and sound advice on how to cope with the death of your pet.

• Death of a Pet

This book offers a gentle way of explaining a loved one's suicide without sweeping it under the rug. By starting an open and honest conversation with our youth, we can help break down the stigmas and start raising mental health awareness.

• Children

• Suicide

Experiences over the last three years of life. Frank Tugend's involvement with arteriosclerosis.

• General

• Historical

Ages 5 and up. A boy asks others how they felt when his grandfather died and then shares his own feelings.

• Children

• Death of a Grandparent

Practical strategies for surviving the stages of grief are offered as Kolf empathizes with grandparents who grieve.

• General

• Death of a Grandchild

Ages 6-12. Gray Fox runs over rolling hills, through the forest, and past quiet streams. The seasons pass, and as they do he finds a mate and they begin a family. Then tragedy strikes, but Gray Fox’s pride and spirit live on in his cubs, and in the memory of one small boy.

• Children

Intended to help the living work through grief to the time when we can build a new life for ourselves.

• General

• Historical

Offers tools for school personnel to effectively address the needs of grieving children. Chapters include tools to help with data collection, classroom activities, and on-going evaluation of progress.

• Helping Children

• School Resources

A handbook for teachers who this year alone, will deal with more than three million grieving children. Case study, class support for the grieving child, and ideas from counselors who have dealt with a series of deaths. Age appropriate responses included.

• Helping Children

• School Resources

Describes the mechanisms of grief and the procedures of helping clients accomplish the “tasks of mourning” to facilitate moving through the process of normal grieving.

• Professional

The healing will begin as we journey through the maze of confusing twists and turns and some dead ends too, as we try to find our way. The ways of escape may differ, but all depend on finding one thing- JOY. This book suggests finding joy in ways of giving to others-for giving is the greatest joy of all.

• General

Although this is a book for those left behind in the aftermath of violence, it offers concrete and practical steps, allowing family and friend’s safe passage through this incredibly harrowing journey.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Death of a Child

A celebrated author submits an intensely personal account of the meaning of his wife's death.

• Death of a Partner

• Cancer / Historical

Using clear and poignant stories drawn from their own histories of significant loss, the authors illustrate in a very personal way what grief is and how it is possible to recover and regain a sense of aliveness and spontaneity.

• General

Packer’s reflection about Richard and Margaret Baxter story surrounding Margaret’s death. Packer edited version considers six of life’s realities – love, faith, death, grief, hope and patience.

• Death of a Partner

This story is about a family’s journey through – and beyond – terminal cancer. For the Groves family, faith in God and an awareness of his care played a pivotal role as they faced Al’s death, processed their deep grief, and gradually moved forward. Without sugarcoating the pain of grief, the book offers hope and healing to all who are facing the shadow of death.

• Anticipatory / Before the Death

• Cancer / Religious

Grief Works is a profoundly optimistic and compassionate handbook for anyone suffering a loss—from the expected death of a parent to the sudden death of a child or spouse—as well as a guide for those who want to help their grieving loved ones.

• General

This book helps guide the reader through the many emotions that come with this type of grief of homicide, suicide, accident and more.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

"Pastors are privileged to offer ministry in the context of bereavement grief, but in this book Oates takes us into life situations where the significance of grief, separation, and loss often go unnoticed, such as divorce and employment situations. As always, Oates discovers nuggets of biblical wisdom and spiritual insight that ground pastoral care in the Christian tradition and connect caregiving with the faith of the parishioner."

• Professional

• Religious

Proposes some specific things you can do to develop the right attitudes toward grief.

• General

• Historical

Griefland. It’s a place no one wants to visit—a place without borders where language is inadequate and pain is constant. It’s a place where every morning one awakens to the stark reality that a loved one will never be seen, heard—or embraced—again. This is a place that Armen Bacon and Nancy Miller know all too well, for when they met, both of them had lost a child—a son, Alex, and a daughter, Rachel.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Overdose

The author compiles more than 150 common questions about death, explores the emotions behind them, and provides clear and forthright responses. Whether readers find the answers they seek, new perspectives to ponder, or comfort from knowing that others ask similar questions, this valuable resource will guide both individuals who are in the midst of grief and those who wish to provide comfort.

• General

Provides suggestions for dealing with a child's emotional responses (including anger, guilt and depression) and helping a child adjust to a new life after someone loved dies.

• Helping Children

A collection of candid stories from grieving dads that were interviewed over a two year period. The book offers insight from fellow members of, in the haunting words of one dad, “this terrible, terrible club,” which consists of men who have experienced the death of a child. This book is a collection of survival stories by men who have survived the worst possible loss and lived to tell the tale.

• Death of a Child

• Men and grief

For the first time, a psychotherapist specializing in teen and adolescent bereavement offers a compassionate guide to help you discover your unique coping style, deal with overwhelming emotions, and find constructive ways to manage this profound loss so you can move forward in a meaningful and healthy way.

• Teens

• Death of a Sibling

This book offers support, understanding, and, ultimately, comfort and hope from those who have sowed the same tears over the death of a child.

• Death of a Child

This book is comprised of quotations from Bearing the Unbearable, and other sources as well, plus an enormous amount of new material from Dr. Jo. Especially well-suited for the grieving mind that may struggle with concentration, just 30 seconds on any page will empower, hearten, and validate any bereaved person—helping give strength and courage to bear life’s most painful losses.

• General

The author turns her attention to the special needs of adolescents struggling with loss and gives teens the tools they need to work through their pain and grief. Although the circumstances surrounding a death are difficult to handle at any age, adolescence brings with it challenges and struggles that until now have been largely overlooked. Fitzgerald adeptly covers the entire range of situations in which teens may find themselves grieving a death, whether the cause was old age, terminal illness, school violence, or suicide. She helps teens address the gamut of strong and difficult emotions they will experience and the new situations they will face, including family changes, issues with friends, problems at school, and the courage needed to move forward with one's own life.

• Teens

Guides the reader to move "with" rather than "against" the natural grief process as he explores its many aspects, including friending, passing, burying, mourning, remembering, and reconciling.

• General

A series of thoughtful daily devotions, this book shares wisdom, insight, and comfort that will help you through and beyond your grief.

• General

• Religious

This book is designed to help those in pain-and specifically those who have lost someone thorough death-to imagine the path before them. It is a path of suffering. But it is also a path that may lead to unexpected discoveries and to peace.

• General

True story of seven men who were raising children on their own after the deaths of their wives.  The men connected with each almost immediately, and over the next several years forged a deep bond as their monthly meetings evolved into a forum for healing and personal reinvention that transformed them in unexpected ways.

• Death of a Partner

• Men and grief

This book is designed to promote resiliency and healing in children that have experienced the death of a loved one. Using simple language and captivating photographs, this book guides children towards a path of understanding their emotions, as well as caring their minds, bodies, and spirits.

• Children

A book of comfort, insight and inspiration as the author communicates the meaning of his own loss, and the source of his solace.

• General

A book about a sister grief after her brother died by suicide. She was only 12 and found herself "Growing Young".

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Suicide / Sibling Death

"Learning to live happily after the experience of devastating loss is among the most important lessons that can ever be taught. Carole Brody Fleet dares to answer the questions that many are afraid to ask.”

• Death of a Partner

• Cancer

For families, friends and caregivers who want practical, day-to-day “how-to’s” for helping grieving children they love.

• Helping Children

This empathetic guide will help you be a compassionate cancer companion before, during, and after treatment. Whether the person with cancer is a friend or a family member, it will help you understand his or her physical, emotional, social, cognitive, and spiritual needs, and give you tips and encouragement for reaching out and being a steadfast, loving presence.

• Anticipatory / Before the Death

• Cancer

When a friend suffers the loss of someone loved, you may not always know what to say. But you can do many helpful, loving things. Compassionate and eminently practical, Healing the Grieving Heart offers 100 fresh ideas for friends, family members and caregivers who want to help. And each idea’s carpe diem will help you seize the day by supporting your friend right now.

• General

This book offers 100 practical ideas that have helped other grieving parents understand and reconcile their grief. Common challenges for grieving parents, such as dealing with marital stress, helping surviving siblings, dealing with hurtful advice and exploring feelings of guilt, are also addressed.

• Death of a Child

Ideal resource for parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, teachers, coaches and others who want to help a teen in grief.

• Helping Children & Teens

Job loss is a major life transition. It can bring you down or provide opportunities that you never knew existed. This unique approach focuses on your whole experience, not just on find you the next job-although that’s in here, too.

• General

For those who have suffered the loss of a loved one, here are thoughtful words to strengthen, inspire and comfort.

• General

A heartfelt and practical guidebook for those mourning the death of their mother and for supporters hoping to help a loved one through grief.

• General

• Death of a Parent

Whether it's the loss of a job, a marriage, or a life, in today's 24/7 world we're increasingly faced with uncomfortable situations where we don’t know what to say yet we're called upon to quickly respond -- online or in person. Filled with touching stories, this practical guide helps us step into someone else's shoes so that we can empathetically learn how to respond in times of need.

• General

Topics covered include effective ways to channel grief during the workday, supporting co-workers who mourn, and coping with traumatic deaths that affect the workplace. A special introduction for employers (mangers, human resource personnel, owners, etc.) addresses the economic impact of grief in the workplace and provides practical and cost-effective ideas for maintaining morale and creating a productive yet compassionate work environment.

• General

 A road map for those of you who are heartbroken, lost, feel alone, and full of sadness over the loss of your beloved pet. This book is filled with healing information and provides a deep understanding of what you are going through.

• Death of a Pet

By comparing grief counseling to gardening, the author suggests caregivers embrace a more holistic view of the necessary process of grief.

• Helping Children

Compassionate yet practical, Dr. Wolfelt's book explains principles of mourning, needs of mourners and suggestions for helping them meet those needs. Includes what not to do or say, how to listen and many more practical tips.

• General

Even if children or teenagers you love appear to be doing "just fine" after a loss, the truth is, they may be suffering in silence. They may not even know they need your help. Suzy's simple, straightforward, refreshing style makes helping a child both easy and effective. Her approach works to keep misperceptions, isolation, and sadness from permanently affecting the important children in your life.

• Helping Children & Teens

'Sammy couldn't wait to go to Baba Marta's house. Her grandma told such wonderful stories. They were stories that filled her with delight. But the story Baba told Sammy today was different. Sammy and Bab had been sitting on the old swing under the oak tree. Sammy noticed a long bare strip on the trunk of the tree where there was no bark. 'Baba, what happened to this tree? Why is there a big scar running down the middle of it?'' So begins the story of the healing tree.

• Children

• Cancer

When you are grieving, your body often lets you know it feels distressed, too. In fact, you may be shocked by how much your body responds to the impact of your loss.

• General

This empathetic guide will help you understand and express your many difficult thoughts and feelings before, during, and after treatment. It will help you take care of yourself physically, emotionally, socially, cognitively, and spiritually.

• Anticipatory / Before the Death

• Cancer

Miscarriage grief is real and justified. Love plus loss equals grief. The purpose of this book is to help you mourn and heal. This compassionate guide contains 100 practical ideas to help those grieving in the aftermath of miscarriage and all forms of early pregnancy loss.

• Death of a Child

• Miscarriage

The author explores the common feelings of shock, anger, guilt, and sadness that accompany a stillborn child, offering suggestions for expressing feelings, remembering the child, and healing as a family. Ideas to help each unique person—mother, father, grandparent, sibling, friend—are included, as are thoughts from families who experienced a stillbirth.

• Death of a Child

• Stillbirth

For young and middle readers (6-12 year olds) grieving the death of someone loved. Age-appropriate activities and gentle, healing guidance.

• Helping Children

Written to help teens understand and deal with their unique grief. Gives simple, practical ideas and suggested activities.

• Teens

Here-and-now suggestions for helping mourners heal.

• General

This handbook helps those in mourning through what can be the hardest time of year—the holiday season. Readers will better understand their complex emotions after reading about such topics as honoring thoughts and feelings, creating new traditions, finding ways to de-stress, and incorporating healing rituals into the holiday season. All of the answers and advice in this guide are provided in the popular 100 ideas format that features one idea per page.

• General

• Holidays

Death is never easy, but for families and friends affected by a sudden, violent death, grief is especially traumatic. Understanding and expressing these feelings helps survivors, over time and with the support of others, come to reconcile their loss.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

There is a wonder and magic to childhood. We don't realize it at the time, of course...yet the adults in our lives do. They encourage us to see things in the stars, to find joy in colors and laughter as they play. But what happens when that special someone who encourages such wonder and magic is no longer around? We can hide, we can place our heart in a bottle and grow up...or we can find another special someone who understands the magic. And we can encourage them to see things in the stars, find joy among colors and laughter as they play.

• Children

David and Deborah battle horrific grief and anger while trying to hold onto their marriage - and one another- after their son, Patrick, was killed in action in Baghdad, Iraq. This personal narrative shares the couple’s unforgettable journey together towards healing.

• Death of a Child

• Military

Gives insightful mediation on the meaning of grief, showing how it can be the path toward a lasting love of those who have died. Describes the transition from loving in presence to loving in separation.

• General

• Organ Donors / Religious

A man, facing the trials and tribulations of a heart transplant, rediscovers life with a friend as they explore questions of life, love, and friendship in both Jewish and Christian traditions.

• General

• Organ Donors / Religious

Heartbroken is a unique blend of the history of opioid addiction in the U.S., the honesty and courage of families affected and strategies to provide healing and hope. Seven parents share their diverse journeys through the opioid crisis and the traumatic grief of losing a child to drug addiction, in the hope of shining a light into the darkness that can enter any of our families.And, maybe, just maybe, keep another child and their family from this heartbreak.

• Sudden & Traumatic Death

• Death of a Child / Overdose

This Children's Book is a reminder that God speaks to us in many ways. Hearts From Heaven is a visual way for both kids and adults to make that connection, holding onto the promise of God's love for us. Sometimes we find hearts through laughter and sometimes through tears. We're all on an adventure with our Creator, and Hearts from Heaven are just one of many reminders that He loves us.

• Children

• Religious

Topics as notification of death, organ donation and funeral services are discussed candidly. Three easy-to-use checklists simplify the many tasks facing survivors and provide organization and efficiency at a time when chaos is more likely to rule. Spiritual and emotional issues relating to death are ably presented.

• General

With bittersweet poignancy, Lear chronicles her husband’s valiant efforts to combat his sickness as more heart attacks and devastating postsurgical complications befall him. A stunning work of medical drama and journalism, Heartsounds is above all the gripping story of a passionate, enduring love.

• Death of a Partner