Lists

15 Books About Miscarriage and Pregnancy Loss

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CJ Connor

Contributor

CJ Connor is a cozy mystery and romance writer whose main goal in life is to make their dog proud. They are a Pitch Wars alumnus and an Author Mentor Match R9 mentor. Their debut mystery novel BOARD TO DEATH is forthcoming from Kensington Books. Twitter: @cjconnorwrites | cjconnorwrites.com

The grief of miscarrying or losing a child during pregnancy can be so overwhelming. And because every person’s experience with miscarriage is unique, one person may relate to something that doesn’t resonate with another. But books about miscarriage and pregnancy loss can still help you feel less alone and find more resources to heal.

To help you find what you’ve need most, I’ve split this list into three sections: fiction books, nonfiction books, and children’s books that can help address miscarriage and pregnancy loss.

A note on content: the books in this list discuss miscarriage, infertility, infant death, and stillbirth. When applicable, I have included additional content warnings next to individual books.

5 Fiction Book About Miscarriage

Light Between Oceans Cover

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

After suffering one miscarriage and one stillbirth, married couple lighthouse keeper Tom and his wife Isabel discover a child floating in a rowboat with a dead man. Although she and Tom and feel compelled to report the body, Isabel is moved to claim the child as her own and keep how she found them a secret. Years later, after moving to the mainland, the consequences of this decision emerge for the couple and a stranger who they soon meet.

The End of Miracles by Monica Starkman

Content warning: suicidal ideation

Written by a psychiatrist, The End of Miracles examines the profound psychological effects the trauma of miscarriage can have. For many years, Margo Keber and her husband tried to get pregnant despite infertility issues. When she at last conceives, she is devastated when she has a late-term miscarriage. After falling into severe depression, Margo is hospitalized — but the psychiatric treatment she receives struggles to address her overwhelming grief.

The Library at the Edge of the World by Felicity Hayes-McCoy

Content warning: infidelity

Years after suffering a devastating miscarriage, librarian Hanna Casey discovers her husband has been unfaithful. Although her job takes her to many quaint Irish villages, she can’t quite escape her sorrow nor her tense relationship with her mother. But when her library is threatened with closure, she finds a community as she rallies fellow book lovers together to save it.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Married couple Jack and Mabel move to Alaska after a stillbirth that threatens to overwhelm them with despair. After the first snowfall of the year, the build a snow child — only to find that the child has come alive the next day and has a name: Faina.

Mabel and Jack grow close to this magical child, to the point where they see her as their own daughter. But the Alaskan woods are an unpredictable place, and Faina may not be all that she seems.

The Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean

Content warning: infidelity

After a tragedy and an irreversible mistake drove them apart, Duke Malcolm Bevingstoke reaches out to his estranged wife Seraphina with an offer — he will leave her life forever if she helps him move on. But when the two are together again and forced to confront the pain of their shared past, Malcolm comes up with a new plan: help heal her emotional wounds, earn her trust, and ask for her forgiveness.

5 Nonfiction Books About Miscarriage

The Miscarriage Map: What To Expect When You Are No Longer Expecting by Sunita Osborn

Dr. Sunita Osborn is a psychologist renowned for her experience in miscarriage and pregnancy loss. In The Miscarriage Map, Dr. Osborn addresses the common and often-unspoken topics facing couples following a miscarriage — including the impact of pregnancy loss on a relationship, body image after a miscarriage, and how to cope with the emotional grief.

Waves by Ingrid Chabbert book cover

Waves by Ingrid Chabbert and Carole Maurel

Waves is a graphic memoir following two women who, after years of infertility issues, face immeasurable loss following a stillbirth. As they process their grief, they attempt to rebuild their relationship amidst the reality that they may not be able to conceive another child.

I Had a Miscarriage: A Memoir, a Movement by Jessica Zucker

At 16 weeks pregnant, reproductive mental health psychologist Jessica Zucker miscarried. While navigating her own grief, she discovered a need for changing the way pregnancy loss is often shamed and silenced. In her memoir, Dr. Zucker empowers others who miscarry to speak their truth and encourages processing grief as a communal effort.

What God Is Honored Here? Writings on Miscarriage by and for Native Women and Women of Color Edited by Shannon Gibney and Kao Kalia Yang

In What God Is Honored Here? Indigenous women and women of color share their experiences with miscarriage and pregnancy loss. At a focus to this anthology is the fact that miscarriages disproportionately affect BIPOC and marginalized women in the United States. These essays discuss body image, religious and cultural identity, and personal empowerment as it relates to women of color after pregnancy loss.

Exact Replica cover

An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken

In her mid-30s, author Elizabeth McCracken was surprised by love and marriage after accepting her life a “self-proclaimed spinster.” Following nine months of pregnancy, she discovered that her unborn child had died suddenly. This memoir discusses her grief following her late-term miscarriage while exploring how to keep going after the loss of a child.

5 Picture Books That Can Help Children Understand Miscarriage

Perfectly Imperfect Family cover

Perfectly Imperfect Family by Amie Lands and Natia Gogiashvili

In Perfectly Imperfect Family, a little boy and his parents remember and celebrate his sister, who died before he was born. This picture book can be helpful for explaining miscarriage to children in a way that celebrates the memory of the unborn child.

Something Happened by Cathy Blanford and Phyllis Childers

After her family experiences a miscarriage, a young boy is overwhelmed with the loss of his anticipated sibling. But together with his family, he finds ways to cope with his grief and honor the memory of the unborn baby. Written by a nurse with over 20 years of experience caring for grieving children, this picture book can be helpful for introducing the concept of or discussing miscarriage with a child.

always my twin

Always My Twin by Valerie R. Samuels and Najah Clemmons

Based on the author’s experience of losing her twin, Always My Twin follows a little girl as she remembers and grieves her lost sister, who died shortly after their birth. This book can be especially helpful for families with children whose twin passed away.

Where Do They Go? by Julia Alvarez and Sabra Field

Although this book is about grief rather than pregnancy loss specifically, Where Do They Go? can help children process their emotions following a family’s miscarriage. Lyrical and comforting, this picture book addresses the questions children may have about death and loss.

ladder to the moon cover

Ladder to the Moon by Maya Soetoro-Ng and Yuyi Morales

In this dreamlike picture book, a little girl named Suhaila longs to meet her Grandma Annie, who died before she was born. One night, a golden ladder appears and allows Grandma Annie to spend a special moment with her granddaughter. For children who wish they could have met their unborn sibling following pregnancy loss, Ladder to the Moon can be comforting.