Reading is a daily ritual for me. I’m a mood reader, gravitating towards genre fiction when I need an escape from reality, but my favorite books tend to be emotionally devastating literary fiction. I love to be moved to tears. To be left gasping at the beauty and heartbreak that humans create with words, reflecting our shared existence on this planet. The following books made me feel deeply, and although the characters in these stories endure trauma and pain, each of them carry hope, beauty and connection in a world that strives to tear people apart.
Based on the author’s experiences, The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong examines life as a fast-food worker and the communities that form among society’s most vulnerable people. He writes about found family in unlikely places, and the friendship between the main character and the elderly woman who saves his life made me laugh and sob in turns.
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy explores a future devastated by the climate crisis. Dominic Salt and his children work as caretakers of the world’s only remaining seed bank. When a woman washes up on the shore of their remote island, and the oceans continue to rise, their lives entangle as they try to protect each other and the last remains of plant life on Earth.
Set in the Dutch countryside in 1961, The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden is a story of the lasting impact of war. Isabel, self-isolating and cantankerous, is living in her late mother’s house. Past secrets and hidden desires surface to change her life forever as a mysterious houseguest arrives.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is the best fictional account I have read on generational trauma and the imprint that slavery has on our nation. The story begins in 18th century Ghana, with two half sisters, one who is enslaved and one who marries a wealthy Englishman. It follows the sisters and their progeny through eight generations, each trying to survive in a world intent on breaking them.
Alternating between memoir and fiction, Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq is one of the most devastatingly beautiful books I’ve ever read. This book is a testament to holding onto love as a guiding force while experiencing trauma. I recommend finding the audiobook, as the author, an Inuit throat singer, performs her music intermittently throughout her narration of the book.
Emily Slattery Phillips currently works as a Youth Services Librarian for the Des Moines Public Library after a career as an art educator in the public schools. An obsessive reader, books have always been a home for her, and a place to explore and learn. This article was originally published in Little Village’s November 2025 issue.
