Grief

"The art of losing isn't hard to master," wrote poet Elizabeth Bishop. Perhaps she meant that we will all face loss at some point in our lives. In this collection, we have brought together texts that take up the universal experience of grief.

Here

by Richard McGuire

Publication year 2014

Genre Graphic Novel/Book, Fiction

Themes Art, Place, Memory, Environment, Grief, Joy, Loneliness, Love, Indigenous Identity, Aging, Childhood & Youth, Death, Future, The Past, Climate, Objects & Materials, Space, Family, Mothers, Beauty

Tags Historical Fiction, Dramatic Literature, World History, Arts & Culture

Here by Richard McGuire is a graphic novel published on December 4, 2014, by Pantheon Books. The graphic novel focuses on the same corner of a room over billions of years. It depicts the area long before the house is built and long after it falls. By using different visual styles, overlapping panels, and non-chronological narration, McGuire creates a narrative that comments on the nature of time and life. Here is considered a transformative work... Read Here Summary

Highland Mary

by Robert Burns

Publication year 1792

Genre Poem, Fiction

Themes Love, Grief, Memory, Death, Place

Tags Lyric Poem, Relationships, Grief & Death, Love & Sexuality, British Literature, Romanticism, Age of Enlightenment

... Read Highland Mary Summary

H Is For Hawk

by Helen Macdonald

Publication year 2014

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Environment, Sexual Identity, Death, Grief

Tags Animals, Science & Nature, Grief & Death, Biography

H Is for Hawk (2014) is British author Helen MacDonald’s award-winning memoir about her attempts to train a goshawk named Mabel in the wake of her father’s death. It is a memoir of grief, self-discovery, and the healing power of nature. MacDonald intersperses her descriptions of training Mabel with references to the memoirs of T.H. White, who writes about his own hapless attempts at falconry in the 1930s. The memoir was an instant bestseller and... Read H Is For Hawk Summary

Hollow Fires

by Samira Ahmed

Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Grief, Hate & Anger, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Friendship, Community

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Realistic Fiction, Race & Racism, Social Justice, Modern Classic Fiction

... Read Hollow Fires Summary

Home Front

by Kristin Hannah

Publication year 2012

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Marriage, War, Family, Love, Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Grief, Mental Health

Tags Romance, Historical Fiction, Dramatic Literature, Military & War, Modern Classic Fiction

... Read Home Front Summary

Honey

by Sarah Weeks

Publication year 2015

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Grief, Memory, Childhood & Youth, Daughters & Sons, Fathers, Truth & Lies

Tags Realistic Fiction, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Children`s Literature, Animals

... Read Honey Summary

Honor

by Thrity Umrigar

Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Hope, Love, Loyalty & Betrayal, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Fear, Grief, Hate & Anger, Memory, Shame & Pride, Femininity, Family, Self Discovery, Social Class, Colonialism, Community, Justice, Safety & Danger

Tags Historical Fiction

... Read Honor Summary

Housekeeping

by Marilynne Robinson

Publication year 1980

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Grief, Fate

Tags Modern Classic Fiction, Coming of Age, American Literature, Classic Fiction

Housekeeping (1980) is a novel by Marilynne Robinson that follows the upbringing of two sisters, Ruthie and Lucille Stone, in Fingerbone, Idaho, in the 1950s. This is the first novel by Marilynne Robinson. It was awarded the PEN/Hemingway Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, an award the author later won for her novel Gilead (2004). Beyond Housekeeping, Robinson is most known for Gilead (2004) and Home (2008). Housekeeping, which has been named... Read Housekeeping Summary

How Far She Went

by Mary Hood

Publication year 1984

Genre Short Story Collection, Fiction

Themes Music, Grief, Family

Mary Hood’s first collection of short stories, How Far She Went, was published in 1984 and won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction and the Southern Review/Louisiana State University Short Fiction Award. This study guide refers to the University of Georgia Press edition published in 1984. Four stories in the collection first appeared in The Georgia Review: “A Country Girl,” “Doing This, Saying That, to Applause,” “Manly Conclusions,” and “Inexorable Progress.” The opening story... Read How Far She Went Summary