Change is the only constant in life, so why is it always so difficult? While humans may never understand that mystery, they can at least write about it to process and accept it.
As we undergo big changes, some of these books will serve as a good reminder that we are never alone in facing our difficulties with change. We've curated a list of e-books and e-audiobooks with a heavy emphasis on this very topic.
If you’re looking for a compelling read where characters undergo significant and sudden life changes, take a look at these picks.
The Lovely Bones opens with the narrator’s own death as she spends the rest of the novel witnessing the impact on the people who loved her. Watching from heaven, she has undergone her own significant change while also witnessing the adjustments of people from her previous life.
In A Monster Calls, a young boy (Conor) has to process his mother's being stricken with a sudden illness. As he tries to process, grief visits him in an unlikely form.
After You'd Gone features a character who, very early on, ends up in a coma after an accident. This creates a drastic change for her family, who then have to examine the dynamics of their relationship with their coma-stricken loved one.
Thirteen-year-old Theo’s life is upended when a terrorist attack kills his mother in The Goldfinch. Theo’s struggle to adjust unfolds into a powerful story of change, revealing the beauty that can exist beyond loss.
Eat, Pray, Love is a quintessential story about big change. Elizabeth Gilbert’s choice to leave behind a successful career and marriage in pursuit of herself has inspired millions. Big changes can be scary, but choosing them in pursuit of one’s growth is inspiring.
In The Night Circus, the sudden death of young Celia’s mother pushes her into a life of magic and theatrics as she has to live with her father, an entertainer and magician who works under the stage name of Prospero the Enchanter. The sudden change and new circumstances lead her to discover her own hidden talents.
The protagonist in The Midnight Library decides to end her own life after a series of unfortunate events. Instead of passing away, she awakens in a magical library where stories offer her versions of what could have otherwise been.
Station Eleven wastes no time with the sudden death of a stage actor, precipitating the pandemic that will change the outlook of the entire human race. For the main characters in this book, the sudden change in everything they have known sends them down a completely unpredictable path.
Imagine waking up one morning and finding yourself a gigantic insect. Kafka’s classic story, Metamorphosis, is one of the best examples of unprecedented change and adjusting to unforeseen circumstances.
One minute, Novalee is driving to California with her boyfriend, and the next, she is left stranded, pregnant and with a few dollars in her pocket. Where the Heart Is serves as a warm example of how even the most difficult sudden changes can blossom into a more beautiful life than one could have previously imagined.
While we enjoy and highly recommend the books we’ve chosen, there are endless other titles in which characters grapple with big life changes.
If you enjoyed the suggestions on this list and are interested in more, fill out a May We Suggest form for personal recommendations from a CPL librarian. We can help you find other books about change that may best fit your particular interests or life experience.
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