Illness Fiction

During the summer of 1793, Mattie Cook lives above the family coffee shop with her widowed mother and grandfather. Mattie spends her days avoiding chores and making plans to turn the family business into the finest Philadelphia has ever seen. But then the fever breaks out. Disease sweeps the streets, destroying everything in its path and turning Mattie's world upside down. At her feverish mother's insistence, Mattie flees the city with her grandfather. But she soon discovers that the sickness is everywhere, and Mattie must learn quickly how to survive in a city frantic with disease.

Suddenly confronted with his own mortality after a routine checkup, eminent psychotherapist Julius Hertzfeld is forced to reexamine his life and work - and seeks out Philip Slate, a sex addict whom he failed to help some 20 years earlier. Yet Philip claims to be cured - miraculously transformed by the pessimistic teachings of German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer - and is himself a philosophical counselor in training.

After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. She throws herself into her work from dusk to dawn, until her solitary routine is disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious child who shows up at her cabin barefoot and covered in bruises. The girl calls herself Ursa, and she claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles.

What would you do if your dead sister sent you postcards? I've struggled to get my life back on track after a lifetime of despair, addiction, and loss. I finally have it all. A bustling business, a home, my health, and time with my beloved daughter Sophie. But that tenuous balance is tipped when my twin Jane's postcard arrives in the mail. My family thinks she's dead. They want to put it all behind them. But how can I agree when the evidence is right in front of me? When my nagging little sister provokes my rebellious teenager to run away, I am forced to confront the past I've wanted to ...

A compassionate and captivating examination of evolving attitudes toward mental illness throughout history and the fight to end the stigma. For centuries, scientists and society cast moral judgments on anyone deemed mentally ill, confining many to asylums. In Nobody’s Normal, anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker chronicles the progress and setbacks in the struggle against mental-illness stigma - from the 18th century, through America’s major wars, and into today’s high-tech economy.

Fly Away is the story of three women who have lost their way and need each other - plus a miracle - to transform their lives. An emotionally-complex, heart-wrenching novel about love, family, motherhood, loss, and redemption, Fly Away reminds us that where there is life, there is hope and where there is love, there is forgiveness. Told with her trademark visceral storytelling and illuminating prose, Kristin Hannah reveals why she is one of the most beloved writers of our day.

Jack Torrance's new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he'll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote...and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.

In 15th century England, there are two cousins, both the daughters of dukes, both widowed young, both the mother of sons called Henry. Both are named Margaret Beaufort. One Margaret’s son will be a future King. The other one’s son will be an infamous rebel. The ‘other Margaret Beaufort’ is the daughter of Edmund, Duke of Somerset. Proud and temperamental, Edmund’s bitterest enemy is Richard, Duke of York. Rumours swirl about Edmund—Is he to blame for losing many English territories in France? Is he the true father of Queen Margaret’s baby son, Edward of Westminster? Tensions ...

The postman’s days are numbered. Estranged from his family, living alone with only his cat, Cabbage, to keep him company, he was unprepared for the doctor’s diagnosis that he has only months to live. But before he can tackle his bucket list, the Devil appears to make him an offer: In exchange for making one thing in the world disappear, our narrator will get one extra day of life. And so begins a very bizarre week....

For 12-year-old Ottilie Finch, London is an exciting playground to explore. Her family have recently arrived in Hampstead from Durham, under a cloud of scandal that Otty is blissfully unaware of. The only shadow over her days is her mother’s mysterious illness, which keeps her to her room. When young local girl Mabs is offered the chance to become Mrs Finch’s companion, it saves her from a desperate life on the canals. Little does she know that all is not as picture-perfect as it seems.

Her world was color. Canvas and paint. Indie O'Connell lived inside her head. Her voices the muse. And as a freshman at St. Peter's College, all she wanted was to create a name for herself with the brush in her hand. His world was over. Despite his humble upbringing, Kai Carter seemed to have it all. Captain of the swim team and a full scholarship. His golden boy status a mask he had to wear to keep his dream and his family afloat. All the pieces of his life dangled precariously from his fingertips. They never planned for their worlds to collide.

In this novel of family and redemption, a mother struggles to save her 18-year-old daughter from the devastating consequences of mental illness by forcing her to deal with her bipolar disorder. New York Times best-selling author Bebe Moore Campbell draws on her own powerful emotions and African-American roots, showcasing her best writing yet.

A ruthless dissection of American life in the late 1960s, Joan Didion's Play It as It Lays captures the mood of an entire generation, the ennui of contemporary society reflected in spare prose that blisters and haunts the listener. Set in a place beyond good and evil—literally in Hollywood, Las Vegas, and the barren wastes of the Mojave Desert, but figuratively in the landscape of an arid soul—it remains more than three decades after its original publication a profoundly disturbing novel, riveting in its exploration of a woman and a society in crisis.

Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she's seen her fair share of them, and she's excellent at dealing with other people's tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to uproot her life and move to Boston, it's an emergency of a kind Cassie never anticipated. The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie's old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren't exactly thrilled to have a "lady" on the crew.

For Sewanee Chester, being an audiobook narrator is a long way from her old dreams, but the days of being a star on film sets are long behind her. She’s found success and satisfaction from the inside of a sound booth and it allows her to care for her beloved, ailing grandmother. When she arrives in Las Vegas last-minute for a book convention, Sewanee unexpectedly spends a whirlwind night with a charming stranger.

Called "a masterpiece" by The Guardian, this courageous and honest trilogy from Tove Ditlevsen, a pioneer in the field of genre-bending confessional writing, explores themes of family, sex, motherhood, abortion, addiction, and being an artist. This program contains all three volumes of her memoirs.

The 1953 death of Bertram Warren was ruled an accident, but Detective Jerry Keating believed Bertram was murdered by his young wife, Cora. He also believed that their daughter, ten-year-old Meghan, saw what happened. When Jerry tried to question the girl, her mother called the chief of police, and they told Jerry to back off. Some sixty years later, Cora dies, and she leaves her house on the shore to her only living relative, a young woman named Mariah Kimball. Mariah has never heard of Cora Warren and refuses to believe it when she learns that Cora was her biological great-grandmother. ...

There’s a cottage on a cliff. Gabe and Pippa’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Night after night Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge. Until he doesn’t. When Pippa discovers Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral...Did the victim jump? Was she pushed?

Milly's mother is a serial killer. Though Milly loves her mother, the only way to make her stop is to turn her in to the police. Milly is given a fresh start: a new identity, a home with an affluent foster family, and a spot at an exclusive private school. But Milly has secrets, and life at her new home becomes complicated. As her mother's trial looms, with Milly as the star witness, Milly starts to wonder how much of her is nature, how much of her is nurture, and whether she is doomed to turn out like her mother after all.

A quick read for those looking for dark fiction that you can devour in one sitting. These are creepy, crawly, and grotesque stories meant to make your stomach churn and your toes curl. The fierce auction of an abandoned storage unit leads to a mysterious box finding its final resting place. Assigned to a military post, a man watches security cameras capture the end of the world. An unusual illness leaks into society and leaves a man isolated and battling for his life. On a dark fall night, a happy family is tormented by an invisible beast from under the bed. A man with an overbearing mother...