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Looking for really sad and beautiful books that will destroy me emotionally. (Not YA) Any suggestions?

Looking for really sad and beautiful books that will destroy me emotionally. (Not YA) Any suggestions?

Disa #recommend

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143 Answers

Melissa

Damn I don’t think I haven’t read non YA in a while. Freedom Writers is non fiction and some of the stories are heartbreaking.

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Sibel

The Kite Runner

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Jenna

The nightingale, Jodi pickup – my sisters keeper, handle with care.

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Paula

Me before you

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Kristyn

My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent. It’s beautifully written, but the subject matter is very touchy.

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Siri

❤️Of Human Bondage
❤️Frankenstein
❤️EVERYTHING by Émile Zola!

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Deborah

I’m reading Of Human Bondage again. Love it.

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Garima

I felt that Frankenstein was more of a depressing tale than a heartbreaking one.

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Laurie

Firefly Lane

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Elizabeth

The Art Of Racing in The Rain

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Linda

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

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Midawna

I Loved that book so much, I had it sent to my daughter?

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Faith-Maria

Tuesday’s with Morrie

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Elizabeth

Water For Elephants

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Elizabeth

The Joy Luck Club or pretty much anything by Amy Tan

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DisaQuestion author

Already read The Joy Luck Club, but it’s marvellous. Can you recommend any particular Tan books?

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Elizabeth

The Bone Setter’s Daughter is a good one

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Oumayma

Ugly love by Colleen Hoover

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Grace

Cant go wrong with Danielle Steele

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Julie

All her books are the same, stopped reading her years ago.

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Grace

Yea..i did notice she had the same formula for most of her stories. Shes still a good read though. The one book of hers that Ill never forget is “his bright light” about her son Nick.

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Julie

I liked her earlier books, and yes, she has a formula. I discovered indie authors when I started reading on my Kindle. Some of them are very gifted, way better than DS.

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Grace

Oh yes. When i got my first kindle I discovered Amanda Hockings, Jessica Sorenson…mostly authors of YA books

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Julie

I discovered S.C Stephens, Amy Harmon, Abbi Glines, and my all time Favorite Kristen Ashley.

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Leah

Angela’s Ashes

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Alannah

The last time we say goodbye by Cynthia hand It’s kinda YA but the author who wrote it, wrote it off of her own experiences with her Brother.

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Sue

Definitely has to be Me Before You. I sobbed. ?

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Amber

Marley and me

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Keren

This one has comedy and sadness. I couldn’t finish it I’m sure you can guess why.?

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Michelle

I am reading this soon, I loved the movie so much, I was going to read it a couple of years ago but I lost my 16 year old Husky to heart failure, it would had wrecked me.

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Ricky

The Time Traveller’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger.

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Sue

I loved that book,! Sobbed at the end of that one too. ❤

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Ricky

It was so sad that it made me a little wary to read her next. Her Fearful Symmetry was not so devastating for me.

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Sue

I have never read any of her other books actually, as they have not tempted me – time travel stories always intrigue me.

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Hanna

I cried like a baby at Time Traveller’s Wife. Her Fearful Symmetry was more disturbing than heartbreaking to me.

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Kelly

The Book Thief. The Lovely Bones. Sarah’s Key

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Michelle

Loved The Lovely Bones?

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Julie

Making Faces by Amy Harmon.

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Tori

It ends with us by Coleen Hoover( or anything by her for that matter)

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Julie

Love her!

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Keren

Tuesday’s with morrie by Mitch albom

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Tori

Metamorphosis by France Kafka

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Garima

Man, this is such a bleak story.

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Tori

@Garima I bawled my eyes out for a few days afterwards

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Marlie

Bridges of Madison County

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Rita

I Heard The Owl Call My Name

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Kelcie

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Jennifer

The Air He Breathes by Brittainy Cherry

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Kelly

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, was a total wreck when i finished this book. Couldn’t even talk i was sobbing so much

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Siri

Yes! ?? (YA though?)

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Kelly

A couple of others are The green mile by stephen king, My sisters keeper by Jodi Picoult, Marley and Me is great but heartbreaking too

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Siri

@Kelly YA is the best, what can you do???

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DisaQuestion author

I’m unfortunately slightly allergic to young adult books. 😉 It’s not that they are bad it’s just that get flashbacks to how much I hated being a young adult. I was terrible at it and I was, and still am, terrible at understanding and hanging out with teens. Children and adults: Yes. Teens: No, hell no. ?

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Angela

The Green Mile pretty much has me sobbing all the way through. And definitely not YA.

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Megan

The Years of Rice and Salt knocked me sideways a bit. It’s not particularly a weepy or anything, but it gets you seriously thinking about life and your place in the world and the impact you have on others and oh boy, it’s just…profound, in a way. It was an emotional punch in the guts for me because of how it got me to just…stand back and look, and think. I love it.

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Germaine

And the Mountains Echoed and 1000 Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.
The House of Tides by Hannah Richell.

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Germaine

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Jocelyn

The Book Thief
The Kite Runner

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Midawna

Have you read A Thousand Splendid Suns by the author of The Kite Runner?

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Jocelyn

I have it but I haven’t read it yet.

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Katie

Def a thousand splendid suns! So amazing!

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Traci

Cold Mountain

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Hoogeveen

The nightingale by Kristin Hannah, The lost wife by Alyson Richman, Sarah’s key by Tatiana de Rosnay, Me Before you by Jojo Moyes, The soldier’s wife by Margaret Leroy

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Glenis

In Search of April Raintree. Guaranteed, you will cry

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Germaine

My Sister’s Keeper and Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult.
The Dead Zone by Stephen King.
QB VII by Leon Uris.

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Deanna

??

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Carissa

The Art of Racing in the Rain

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Sandra

The Nightingale

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Hoogeveen

The help by Kathleen Stockett, The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom, The path of the child by Sojourner McConnell, Before we were yours by Lisa Wingate, Not without my daughter by Betty Mahmoody, My mother’s shadow by Nikola Scott

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Ben

The Dust that Falls from Dreams – Louis De Berniers

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Donna

the gift by danielle steel made me cry like a baby

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Nihal

The Kite Runner

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Germaine

The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman. Beautiful and heartbreaking.

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Deborah

Marley & Me, Chosen By A Horse

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Stacey

Jane Eyre. Little Women. A Train In Winter.

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Angela

Stephen Donaldson writes heartbreaking characters. Both the Thomas Covenant, and The Gap series have stayed with me through the years. They’re huge stories though, and somewhat bleak in their outlook.

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Fay

A little life by Hanya Yanagihara

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Christine

The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy. You will enter a world of country folk in 19th century England. It is slow moving and full of old-fashioned words and wisdom. You will find out that folks are still the same.

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Barbara

The Dollmaker by Hariette Arnow. Cried for3 hours when I finished it. Beautifully written and absolutely heartbreaking.

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Dotti

Marley and Me…it’s the end that is beautifully sad.

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Tammy

That’s CHEATING, there’s a dog’s name in the title!

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Dotti

@Tammy how do you know that it is not Scrooge’s partner’s back story…as told by old Ebby himself?

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Tammy

Because there’s usually a dog on the cover! (and I’ve read the book, watched the movie, and washed the hankies.)

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Dotti

@Tammy got one up on ya…I read the original newspaper columns that the book was based on.

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Tammy

@Dotti But have you washed your hankies correctly?

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Kurio

The a court of series. Or the final book of Throne of Glass.

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Linda

I cried so much in a court of torn and roses ?
Still the best book since 2010

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Tiffany

There is another one coming out on TOG

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Kurio

Well it counts as the current last one til September, but apparently that got pushed to October now.

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Kurio

Either way EoS will crush you, especially the ending

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Hanna

My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman. I cried and cried. Most of the previous suggestions are really devastating and awesome too!

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Christy

I tried to read this book but quit at page 100. May try it again this year.

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Hanna

A lot of people on Goodreads seemed to like A Man Called Ove by the same author better, and he also has a novella called And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer and Longer that I keep almost starting but not because I know I’ll bawl my eyes out. 🙂

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Christy

A Man Called Ove is in my book bag to read. 2 ahead of it. Thanks for the recommendations?

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Melissa

Suzanne’s Diary for Nickolas.

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Gloria

Yikes! Im going to pay attention to these suggestions and never read these books! I’m so happy we all like different things and books in life. ?

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Rhea

?Where the River Ends by Charles Martin

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Elaine

Its an oldie….The Lute and the Glove… Katherine Wigmore Eyre……

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Ann

Just mercy..Bryan Stevenson ( true story (

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Ann

Born free, and forever free

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Sapna

Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

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Sylvia

120 Days by M. Stratton

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Linda

I really have to agree with a court of torn and roses by Sarah J Maas

But i was gonna suggest anything by Nicholas Sparks. My favourite was The Wedding ( the notebook#2) followed by the guardian which a thriller mystery kind of

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Amanda

“Under the Lemon Grove” by R.A. Morley will be out this September.
I was part of the reading group to beta. Even the 6th time reading it, I cried.

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Grace

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5167.Cane_River#

http://www.lalitatademy.com/redriver.html

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Bianca

A thousand boy kisses by Tillie Cole

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Elsa

The girl you left behind n message in a bottle, also the girl who didn’t talk, by Torey Hayden, this one a true story that might destroy your faith in humankind

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Sylvia

the forgotten garden. this one does have a positive ending 😉

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Jeannie

The Lovely Bones- Alice Seabold (Sebold?)
The Moon Looked Down- Dorothy Garlock

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Marianne

Check out this book on Goodreads: Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7494.Suzanne_s_Diary_for_Nicholas
I read this so long ago but it has always stuck with me…

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Marie

Read it twice – cried twice !!

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Michelle

Should had looked at the thread first, this was a beautiful, sad book that has stuck with me too.

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Briana

The Orphan Train. The diary of Anne Frank (I cry every time) My sisters Keeper, Nineteen Minutes anything by Nicholas Sparks some Danielle Steel

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Krisne

I’m not sure about the beautiful bit … but :

Image may contain: one or more people, text, nature and outdoor
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Krisne

Or

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Rao

Does this book talks about existentialism values?

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Rao

I mean does this book talk about people who have suicidal tendency?

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Krisne

yes to the second

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Rao

Great…I seem worth reading then. I’ll try it. Thanks

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Hamza

The bell jar

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Hamza

Madam Bovary

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Vijaya

The boy In the striped pajamas is very disturbing

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Briana

That movie made me snot cry it was horrible. I refuse to read the book if the movie is that sad.

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Tiffany

A thousand voices.

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Cheryl

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

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Sandra

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

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Paula

John Williams – Stoner

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Michelle

Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson, I cried so hard and it was a great book.

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Jessica

Age of Innocence by Wharton.

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Anessa

The Stolen Marriage

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Rashida

When Rabbit Hoels..Trudie Chase

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Rao

Series of unfortunate events ?

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Hamza

Notes from Underground

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Hamza

One hundred years of Solitude

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Christy

The Drifters by James Michener

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Scarlett

Born of legend by sherrilyn Kenyon will give you feels.

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Maria

Keyes Daniel – Flowers for Algernon

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Vicki

Heading out to Wonderful, Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

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Tammy

This might do the trick right here;
http://www.highlandmidwife.com/docs/raport_from_auschwitz.pdf

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Tammy

Cathy Glass -any of her books.
Tyler Vitt, Sometimes They Do -Short Story, might be free online.
Bryan Davis, I Know Why The Angels Dance
Dave Cullen, Columbine.
Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place

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Belynda

The Architect of Song by AG Howard is a new adult novel. Victorian romance/ghost story?

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Rai

a kite runner and a thousand splendid suns. of course… these books are amazing

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Germaine

Khaled Hosseini’s third book, And the Mountains Echoed, made me cry even more. My favorite though is Splendid Suns.

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