One of the most prolific authors in our library is our dear friend and mentor to Olivia’s House, Alan Wolfelt! One of his newest releases, “When Your Soulmate Dies,” acts as a navigation tool for discovering healing after the love of your life dies. Borrow this book today!
For those who have experienced the death of an adult child, it can be difficult finding other parents to connect to. Dorothy Ferguson’s “When Winter Follows Spring” is a book written by someone who understands this loss on a personal level and will guide the reader into finding comfort through connection.
Nadine Galinsky Feldman’s When A Grandchild Dies captures the complexity of emotions that follow such a tragic loss. While working through their own bereavement, grandparents are tasked with also supporting their own child in mourning, which can cause their grief to become disenfranchised and minimized. This resource is a wonderful paper companion to have nearby during the time when you need a support and an understanding author.
To Dance with White Dog by Terry Kay is a heartwarming book that will keep you invested from beginning to end! This novel tells the story of Sam, an older man with grown children whose wife dies of cancer. Shortly after she dies, Sam finds that a pesky white dog starts showing up at his back door. . .only no one seems to see the dog but him! Sam’s children mean well in looking after him, but they tend to hover. . .and do they ever see the dog? If you could use a laugh, a cry, and a good read, this is the book for you!
In 2006, a tragedy struck our community when an armed man entered an Amish schoolhouse and took the lives of ten children. Jonas Bieler had previously lived in the same Amish community and had lost his own daughter years prior to this catastrophe, so his insight into the aftermath was acute. In Think No Evil, aptly named, Jonas writes about the overwhelming sense of forgiveness, love, and support that emanated from his former Amish community. Jonas came to our center years ago to extend this resource with Leslie, and to share the stories of unity that followed the unthinkable tragedy.
We lost one of the greats in Joan Didion. Loss, however, is a topic that Didion was quite familiar with. In her book The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan openly shares the story of her infant daughter’s brush with death, which surprisingly led into the death of Joan’s husband, and how she chose to find healing. We are honored to carry this book, and Joan’s legacy, on our shelves.
No matter your age, even if you are established in adulthood, losing a parent is painful. The Orphaned Adult by Alexander Levy normalizes the slew of emotions brought on by a parent’s death, whether you were close-knit, estranged, and anything in between. Grab this book off the shelf when you need the support of a peer who is walking a similar path that you are beginning to navigate.
A few years ago, Olivia’s House was contacted by Donald Rosenstein and Justin Yopp, authors of the incredible book, The Group. They were eager to share their resource with us, and we were just as eager to have it in our library and share it with all of you! The Group tells the true story of the two authors co-leading a support group for men who had lost their wives. . .men who were not quite used to sharing their feelings in public space! Over time, this group became tight-knit and relied on each other in their most difficult times. We love the embodiment of bringing people together to heal, and this is an excellent read!
When Patty Dann’s husband was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, she was overwhelmed with her own feelings of grief, let alone the fear of having to tell their three-year-old son! The Goldfish Went on Vacation: A Memoir of Loss (And Learning to Tell the Truth About it) is an honest, uncertain, and sometimes humorous look at the way Patty navigates her husband’s diagnosis alongside her family.
Edith Eger was only 16 years old when she, her parents, and her sister were sent to Auschwitz Concentration Camp during WWII. In 1945, both she and her sister were recovered together, and began to move forward in life desperate to escape the past. As Edith began to come to terms with her trauma (including learning what trauma was), she started a career studying psychology. Almost 60 years later, Dr. Edith Eger continues to treat patients and speak around the world, sharing the story of how a young dancer from Poland made “The Choice” to survive and thrive, rather than succumb to her trauma.