Baby Dust: A Novel about Miscarriage and Pregnancy Loss
Author: Deanna Roy
This 2011 book might be a work of fiction but it draws heavily from true stories. It follows the story of five mothers who have lost their children. They meet through a support group and pour out their heart to each other, sharing the pangs of baby loss but also the guilt, the hopelessness that follows it. Stella is in charge of this support group but she is fighting her own demons – she is struggling to conceive.
Three Minus One: Stories of Parents’ Love and Loss
Author: Sean Hanish
A 2014 book, it is a collection of heartbreaking stories of parents who have lost their babies during pregnancy, at birth and in infancy. The book, in turn, is inspired by the movie ‘Return To Zero’, about a couple whose world comes crashing down when their first child dies in the womb.
The Good Grief Club
Author: Monica Novak
The 2016 novel emphasises the importance of talking about baby loss than hushing it up and moving on in life. It follows the lives of seven fictional women, who discover the strength of coping with their baby through their friendship. What lends heft to this novel is that the author is a bereaved mother herself and so she writes from a place of truth and empathy.
The Memory of Keeper’s Daughter
Author: Kim Edwards
Truth is difficult to stomach but a lie, even more. This New York Times Paperback bestseller is built on this dilemma. In the story, a couple welcomes twins – a boy and a girl. While the son is perfectly healthy, the daughter is born with Down Syndrome. The father decides to give away the girl to a nurse and lies to his wife that she died at birth. The rest of the plot exposes the cost of this lie.
A Broken Heart Still Beats: After Your Child Dies
Author: Mary Semel
In this 1998 book, a journalist and a psychotherapist put into words what baby loss and grief really feels like. They weave their stories of bereavement along with poetry, prose and essays by famous writers, old and new writers.