If you have suffered the loss of a child, And a Sword Shall Pierce Your Heart by Charlotte Mathes is a must read.

Ms. Mathes is a Jungian Psychoanalyst who lost her own son. And a Sword Shall Pierce Your Heart offers insight into the journey of grief, from many different points of view. It is a spiritual, yet inspirational view at how others go through the grieving process. She touches base, through many individual stories, on how others go through the process and the steps they take to deal with their grief. She covers a vast array of causes of death, such as accidental, SIDS, miscarriage, natural, homicide and others, delving into the grieving process of each, in such a way, that you garner a level of understanding on how each is different for everyone, yet comfortingly similar.

The way Ms. Mathes describes the Jungian concept of Archetypes and reveals how they are tied to the many phases of mourning is presented in such a way that even the those unfamiliar with the concept can appreciate it.

The second half of the book offers wonderful resources that will help a mourning parent find the way to continue on without their child. Ms. Mathes offers many helpful suggestions on ways to personally deal with the loss of a child, and the appendix of the book also contains a nice variety of suggestions for books, movies and music that can help one find solace during the grieving process.

Though the book is geared towards the loss of a child, I think anyone who has suffered a loss will get inspiration and comfort from this book, as well as terrific insight into the Jungian concept. And a Sword Shall Pierce Your Heart is a wonderful asset for anyone traveling down the path of grief and looking for understanding and healing.
 
 

Review by Michelle Pinson

Living in the Borderland addresses the evolution of Western consciousness and describes the emergence of the 'Borderland,' a spectrum of reality that is beyond the rational yet is palpable to an increasing number of individuals. Building on Jungian theory, Jerome Bernstein argues that a greater openness to transrational reality experienced by Borderland personalities allows new possibilities for understanding and healing confounding clinical and developmental enigmas.

In three sections, this book charts the evolution of Western consciousness, examines the psychological and clinical implications and looks at how the new Borderland consciousness bridges the mind-body divide. It challenges the standard clinical model, which views normality as an absence of pathology and equates normality with the rational, and abnormality with the transrational. Jerome Bernstein describes how psychotherapy itself often contributes to the alienation of many Borderland personalities by misdiagnosing the difference between the pathological and the sacred and uses case studies to illustrate the potential such misdiagnoses have for causing serious psychic and emotional damage to the patient.

This challenge to the orthodoxies and complacencies of Western medicine's concept of pathology will interest Jungian Analysts, Psychoanalysts, Psychotherapists and Psychiatrists.
 
 

Book Description © Amazon.com

This wonderful story represents the circle of life and the one need we all have at our core… to give and receive love.

The story follows the life of a great Sequoia tree. Its lifecycle helps us to understand what it may be like to know that you will soon pass from this world and shows how you can help others prepare to deal with your loss.

Finally, it shows that death is not the end, that instead, you carry on through the circle of life and give back what you received and more.

This is a wonderful book to share with someone who will soon have to deal with an impending loss of a loved one or have already lost someone special to them. Whether you are young or old, you will take something meaningful from this book and carry it with you always.
 

Also available from the publisher: Trafford Publishing
 

Review by Michelle Pinson

The Mourning Handbook: The Most Comprehensive Resource Offering Practical and Compassionate Advice on Coping with All Aspects of Death and Dying is a wonderful resource for mourners who need emotional and practical support. This book covers ways of dealing with the impending death of a loved one and the loss of a loved one.

From the book description...
...Helen Fitzgerald gives special attention to the complex emotions that can accompany especially traumatic situations, such as when a loved one has been murdered, when there have been multiple deaths, when a body has not been recovered, or when the mourner has been the inadvertent cause of death.

Designed to conform to the special needs of the bereaved, The Mourning Handbook is written and organized in an accessible style punctuated by real stories of people who have experienced every kind of loss. With many subchapters and cross references, it can be consulted for a specific problem or read at length.
 
 

Review Adapted From Amazon.com

My Memory Maker and Making Memories creative journal set is a journaling set for children and their parents. The parent companion journal contains resource guide with helpful suggestions, on-line resources, What Works section, Suggested Readings and Glossary of Terms. The children's book contains writing prompts with lots of space for creative artwork. Oftentimes, children are unable to articulate their feelings. This is a journaling set that was created to open the communication gap between children and their caregiving parents about the grief associated with elderly loved ones diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.Sold together as a set. The set comes with a box of crayons.
 
 

Review Adapted From Amazon.com

Sharon Gilchrest O'Neil has done a wonderful job of compiling a comforting and heartfelt collection of quotes into this book. Through its words, those who have suffered a loss are sure to find comfort, hope and peace. It not only comforts one in their loss, but encourages the celebration of life as well.

The authors experience in Hospice and Family Therapy shines through in the choices she made when working on this project.

If you have ever wanted to comfort someone who has suffered a loss, but you are unsure what to say or do, giving this book would be the perfect gesture.
 
 

Review By Michelle Pinson

Originally published in the fall of 1982, the wonderfully wise and strikingly simple story of a leaf named Freddie has become one of the most popular books of our times. How Freddie and his companion leaves change with the passing seasons, finally falling to the ground with a winter's snow, is an inspiring allegory illustrating the delicate balance between life and death.

After offering solace for a generation of adults and children alike, The Fall of Freddie the Leaf arrives in a classic edition with a beautiful new package that will appeal to today's readers at a time when stories of comfort and inspiration have become more important than ever.
 
 

Review Adapted From Amazon.com

Individual people deal with grief in their own ways and within their own time, but the guidance and support they receive from others is what helps them through it. One of the key messages of Chicken Soup for the Grieving Soul is that togetherness and sharing are the keys to moving on. In these stories people share their experiences with coping, and they share deep memories. Each one has found that putting thoughts and feelings into words is not only cathartic, but it allows them to reconnect with their loved one and others. Words of encouragement are plentiful in this edition, and they go straight to the heart.

Chapters encompass the complete grieving experience and include: Final Gifts, The Power of Support, Coping and Healing, Those We Will Miss, Special Moments, Insights and Lessons, and Living Again.
 
 

Review Adapted From Amazon.com

When Death Occurs: A Practical Consumer's Guide to Burial, Cremation, Body Donation, Funerals, and Memorials is a step-by-step comprehensive guide for dealing with the finanicial aspects that death brings. This is guide to what physically & financially needs to be done when a loved one passes away. John M. Reigle presents it in an easy to understand, no-nonsense approach with plenty of practical advice and alternative ideas. 
 
 

Review Adapted From Amazon.com

The Grief Recovery Handbook presents you with the specific actions you need to complete to finish the grieving process and accept you loss. Incomplete grief recovery can life long lasing effects on your happiness and completeness of life.

A sensible plan for recovery of loss. John W. James & Russell Friedman bring all together for you in this highly rated book. 
 
 

Review Adapted From Amazon.com

Each year about eight million Americans suffer the death of a close family member. The list of high visibility disasters, human suffering and sudden loss is long and will continue to grow. From TWA Flight 800 to Egypt Air, from Oklahoma City to Columbine, daily we face incomprehensible loss. Outside the publicized tragedies there are many families and individuals that are suffering behind closed doors in our neighborhoods, in our own homes, in hospital waiting rooms. Now for those who face the challenges of sudden death, there is a hand to hold. Both authors lost a loved one tragically. Noel's brother was stung by a bee and died instantly at age 27. Blair's husband died of a brain aneurysm. As they struggled to rebuild they found little printed material. I Wasn't Ready to Say Good-bye is the first book to devote all its pages to the unique challenges of sudden loss, written by two women who have walked the path. They cover such difficult topics as the first few we! eks, suicide, death of a child, when a body isn't found, children and grief, funerals and rituals, physical effects, homicide, depression and many others. 
 
 

Review © Amazon.com

Five years after its first publication, with more than 150,000 copies in print, Final Gifts has become a classic. In this moving and compassionate book, hospice nurses Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley share their intimate experiences with patients at the end of life, drawn from more than twenty years experience tending the terminally ill. 

Through their stories we come to appreciate the near-miraculous ways in which the dying communicate their needs, reveal their feelings, and even choreograph their own final moments; we also discover the gifts--of wisdom, faith, and love--that the dying leave for the living to share.

Filled with practical advice on responding to the requests of the dying and helping them prepare emotionally and spiritually for death, Final Gifts shows how we can help the dying person live fully to the very end 
 
 

Review © Amazon.com

Edelman shares her own painful story and the stories of many other women who, as children or adults, lost their mothers. She explains the stages of grief and adjustment. She considers the secondary effects that can occur: the girl-child filling the lost mother's role at home for father and younger siblings. If you've lost your mother, you no longer have to face it alone. 

From the Back Cover
"A moving and valuable treatment of a neglected subject, jolting us into awareness of the profound problems mother loss leaves in its wake." -- The New York Times Book Review.

"Many women will find this book painful, but it's reassuring to have the company of others with the complex emotions and lifelong effects of a mother's loss."- Kirkus Revie
 
 

Review © Amazon.com

If you¹ve lost a spouse, child, family member, or friend, you¹ve discovered that very few people understand the deep hurt you feel.

Where do you turn for daily comfort and encouragement? Where do you find the tools to move forward?

This book is designed to be your constant companion for the next year as you grieve the death of your loved one. Through a Season of Grief offers daily comfort and practical teaching that will enable you to take steps forward each day toward healing. You will better understand the grieving process and receive needed encouragement along the way.

More than thirty respected counselors, pastors and authors share their insights on how to walk forward through the devastation of grief toward wholeness and hope. You will also hear from people like you who have lost a loved one and who have experienced grief recovery.

This book contains 365 brief devotions that will walk you through the emotions, fears, and questions common to the grieving process.
 
 

Review Provided By Kathy Leonard

After a death, many children want to share their story. They may want to tell you what happened, where they were when they were told about the death, and what it was like for them. Telling their story is a healing experience. One of the best ways adults can help young grievers is to listen to their stories.  
 
 

Review Adapted From Amazon.com

This special Red Cross trade paper edition includes a brand new foreword from the author. All publisher profits and author royalties will go to benefit the American Red Cross. This perennial best-seller, now in a revised and expanded edition, includes a study guide. The book and study materials focus on the role of pain in God's plan for life and how we can respond to it. 
 
 

Review © Amazon.com

Mourning the death of a loved one is a process all of us will go through at one time or another. But wherever the death is sudden or anticipated, few of us are prepared for it or for the grief it brings. There is no right or wrong way to grieve; each person's response to loss will be different. Now, in this compassionate, comprehensive guide, Therese A. Rando, Ph.D., bereavement specialist and author of Loss And Anticipatory Grief, leads you gently through the painful but necessary process of grieving and helps you find the best way for yourself.

Whether the death was sudden of expected, from accident, illness, suicide, homicide, or natural causes, Dr. Rando will help you learn to:

Suicide would appear to be the last taboo. Even incest is now discussed freely in popular media, but the suicide of a loved one is still an act most people are unable to talk about--or even admit to their closest family or friends. This is just one of the many painful and paralyzing truths author Carla Fine discovered when her husband, a successful young physician, took his own life in December 1989. And being unable to speak openly and honestly about the cause of her pain made it all the more difficult for her to survive.

With No Time to Say Goodbye, she brings suicide survival from the darkness into light, speaking frankly about the overwhelming feelings of confusion, guilt, shame, anger, and loneliness that are shared by all survivors. Fine draws on her own experience and on conversations with many other survivors--as well as on the knowledge of counselors and mental health professionals. She offers a strong helping hand and invaluable guidance to the vast numbers of family and friends who are left behind by the more than thirty thousand people who commit suicide each year, struggling to make sense of an act that seems to them senseless, and to pick up the pieces of their own shattered lives. And, perhaps most important, for the first time in any book, she allows survivors to see that they are not alone in their feelings of grief and despair. 

Drawing on her own ordeal following her husband's suicide, as well as the experiences of other survivors and the knowledge of professionals, the author offers guidance through the various stages of the process of grieving and reconciliation
 
 

Review © Amazon.com

Reassurance and compassion for those struggling with a loved one's loss. 
 
 

Review © Amazon.com

A five star book on dealing with the loss of a spouse.  Marth Felber has done a wonderful job with this book.
 
 

Review © In Loving Memory

An inspirational journey of light and hope to a place where earthly hurts are left behind.

The perfect gift for anyone who has suffered a loss.

For ages 9-12
 
 

Review © Amazon.com

Since its 1987 release, When Will I Stop Hurting? has received praise like this from readers grateful for June Cerza Kolf¹s understanding and beneficial guidance. With almost 70,000 copies in print, this small but powerful book has been a boon to many wounded souls. Readers have found in Kolf a gentle guide to lead them through the stages of grief and eventually the healing process. This new edition of her book is revised and updated and includes a study guide ideal for bereavement groups. 
 
 

Review © Amazon.com

Highlighting the special circumstances of facing an untimely death. 
 
 

Review © Amazon.com

If Grief is a journey, the author takes our hand to help us along the path 
 
 

Review © Amazon.com

An inspiring new approach to the lifelong process of grieving. The author asserts that death doesn't end the relationship, it simply forges a new type of relationship -- one based not on physical presence but on memory, spirit, and love.

This is a book about death and grief, yes, but more importantly it is a book about love and hope. I have learned from [my interviews with] courageous people about pain, struggle, resiliency, and meaning. Their stories show that over time, you can learn to transcend even in spite of pain. We all get broken by life sooner or later because loss is the price we pay for living and loving. But experience shows that we can become stronger at the broken places and find the opportunity in crisis. I hope this book will help you move beyond grief and will guide you on your journey through time of healing and transcendence." -- From the introduction.
 
 

Review © Amazon.com

Letting go of what we cherish is one of the hardest things we ever have to do. And that includes letting go of jobs, homes, relationships, good health, illusions, self-importance, and even loved ones. But unless we learn to say goodbye as well as hello, we are crippled by our suffering.

This tender and realistic book can be your personal guide to accepting our inevitable goodbyes even as it reminds us that when we are suffering most deeply, the seed of hope still lives within us. Discover the emotions that goodbyes awaken and turn to the twenty-four specific prayers designed to help you deal with nearly every imaginable kind of loss.
 
 

Review © Amazon.com

This book helps us deal with the tragedy of losing a parent.  Unique suggestions for working through grief.

A deeply moving, helpful and comforting book.
 
 

Review © In Loving Memory

"Thank you, Catherine Sanders, for giving us a book that few others could have written. Every page speaks both the depth of your compassion and the breadth of your knowledge. This book will be a wise companion on the difficult journey from loss to recovery."

Ingram Sanders writes from her own personal experience, the death of her son, to create a book that seeks out the grieving process and eventually helps other grieving parents. This book deals with the five phases of bereavement, describing the symptoms and helping the bereaved to understand the normality of what they are feeling.
 
 

Review © Amazon.com