It has given me hope

When things seem very dark there are many avenues people explore to help them deal with their situation and find their way out. Finding refuge in a book is something many people do, but the type of book varies greatly. Sci-fi, fantasy, romance, poetry, spiritual tracts, true life experiences, novels of every genre, old and modern…

Here is another selection of books people have found helped them when life was very tough:

The Outlander Series – Diana Gabaldon: it helped me escape from time to time, during a very serious and acutely stressful few years as a parent
The Awakening – Kate Chopin: it helped me leave an abusive situation and get into counselling.
Final Gifts – Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley: written by a hospice nurse and a social worker, about the ‘gifts’ given by the dying to those they leave behind.
Grief is the Thing with Feathers – Max Porter: it has given me hope.
Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding: Whenever I felt like I was making a proper mess of my life, Bridget reminds me we are perfect, just the way we are.
The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion: (i) helped me learn how to grieve gracefully after my dad died. (ii) made me think I wasn’t completely crazy in grief, or at least not alone in my feelings. (iii) I had this exact same experience!
Julius Verne made my childhood bearable.