The holiday season can be a time of great joy and celebration, but for those of us who have lost a loved one—whether a person or a pet—it can also be a time of deep grief, loneliness, and sadness. During times of loss, books can be an invaluable source of comfort by helping us to feel seen and heard, offering practical advice, and providing us space to reflect on our grief and find solace with others. If you or someone you know is grieving this holiday season, explore these books that provide—through the power of words and storytelling—a sense of hope, healing, and community.
When we lose someone we love, we are forever changed. Leanne Friesen thought she knew a lot about bereavement, but only when her own sister died from cancer did she learn what grieving people need. In the pages of Grieving Room, Friesen writes with vulnerability, wisdom, and even wit about stark and sacred lessons learned in the face of death. When we lose someone, what we need most is grieving room.
Various Authors
There is no "right" way to grieve; grief is complex and deeply personal. For more than fifty years, Good Grief has helped millions of readers find comfort and hope after loss. Whether one is mourning the death of a loved one, the end of a marriage, the loss of a job, or other difficult life changes, Good Grief is a proven steady companion in times of loss.
In addition to Good Grief, the Good Grief series offers a devotional and a journal for those searching for more resources to help them heal. The three books can be purchased as a complete set, in bundles of two, or individually.
Grieving the loss of a loved one is an experience with many seasons and stages. Winter Grief, Summer Grace helps readers navigate the phases of emotion through the four seasons of the year: winter, spring, summer, and fall. With quotes, poetry, and suggestions, author James E. Miller provides gentle guidance and comfort for those who mourn.
Grieving the Death of a Mother
Losing a mother is a difficult transition in life, no matter the status of the relationship. In Grieving the Death of a Mother, Harold Ivan Smith guides readers through their grief, from the process of dying through the acts of remembering and honoring a mother after her death. A mother's last breath inevitably changes us. Through wise counsel, Smith speaks gently to people who have gone through this loss and helps those yet to face it. This edition includes a new foreword from the author.
Grieving the Death of a Father
Losing a father can be a complex and confusing transition. Whether a father was beloved or feared, the loss and grief are a process—one that sometimes begins before the physical loss has occurred. In Grieving the Death of a Father, grief counselor and educator Harold Ivan Smith compassionately guides readers through their grief, from the process of dying through the acts of remembering and honoring a father after his death. This edition includes a new foreword from the author.
Grief is all-consuming. Shattering. The Spirituality of Grief honors the complex nature of grief and offers simple comfort: we are not alone, and there is no one right way to grieve. Author Fran Tilton Shelton walks us through the questions that gather in the wake of a loved one's death and offers spiritual practices, emerging from a variety of religious traditions, for those who remain. All who love will eventually grieve. Universal and particular, shared and solitary, grief rearranges every aspect of life. But by bringing the resources of spirituality to bear on our losses, we can carry our sorrows rather than silence them.
All the Ways Our Dead Still Speak
What if our dead remain with us? What if closure is not the goal? No matter what you believe about the afterlife, what if the hereafter intersects with the here and now? All the Ways Our Dead Still Speak takes readers on a lyrical and tender quest to encounter the hereafter. Entwining these stories with his own as a sixth-generation funeral director, and with the findings of neuroscience and the solace of faith, Caleb Wilde creates a searching, reverent inquiry into all the ways our dead remain with us.
"It is only through awareness of death that we hasten to build the being that we ought to be," writes Dr. Ana Claudia Quintana Arantes. Death Is a Day Worth Living touches a universal nerve, speaking to our most intimate moments and to the vital part of who we are as caregivers and loving family members. With her expertise, Dr. Quintana Arantes courageously takes on a subject that continues to be taboo, offering nothing short of a revolutionary way to reconsider the act of dying. We need to—and can—do more to ensure that everyone has a well-managed and lovingly supported death, and that to do so is a celebration of their life and humanity, and those of their caretakers.
Broken Heart, Shared Heart, Healing Heart
Experiencing the death of a beloved pet can be profoundly difficult, and it can be challenging to find real support and comfort during this time. Broken Heart, Shared Heart, Healing Heart acknowledges the deep pain that pet loss causes and offers gentle guidance on how to navigate this difficult time. Grounded in practical advice and research that pet owners can draw on for real help for their broken hearts, this book offers strategies for honoring loss and our own grieving process.
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