Books for When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned
Few lives unfold exactly as imagined.
A diagnosis changes the future. A relationship ends. A long-awaited dream remains out of reach. Someone we love is gone. Sometimes the change comes suddenly; sometimes it happens slowly enough that we hardly recognize our lives anymore.
Books cannot make those circumstances disappear. But the right book can offer language for what we are experiencing, remind us that someone else understands, or help us see a way forward when the next step is difficult to imagine.
These eight books from Abundance Books approach unexpected seasons from very different places, including chronic illness, infertility, grief, divorce, cancer, trauma, and family crisis.
Nevertheless: Finding Hope in Suffering
Nevertheless: Finding Hope in Suffering by Beth Madison explores chronic illness, cancer, child loss, grief, and faith for readers facing circumstances that may not change. Honest and reflective, it offers hope without relying on easy answers.
Barren: A Shared Journey of Infertility, Loss, and Faith
Barren: A Shared Journey of Infertility, Loss, and Faith by Heather LaVigne offers compassionate support for women navigating infertility and pregnancy loss through personal experience, biblical reflection, honest questions, and hope.
Restored : God’s Promises to Beautifully Rebuild You After Divorce or Separation
Restored: God’s Promises to Beautifully Rebuild You After Divorce or Separation by Tracy Hester Glass is a thirty-day devotional journal offering Scripture, reflection, and guided journaling for women grieving what has been lost and beginning to rebuild.
Turn The Page: Devotions to Help the Griever Hope
Turn the Page: Devotions to Help the Griever Hope by Karisa Moore is a sixty-day devotional journal written from a grieving mother’s experience, offering Scripture, reflection, practical activities, and hope for those learning to live with loss.
Enough: a Cancer Survivor’s Journey from Protesting to Proclaiming
Enough: A Cancer Survivor’s Journey from Protesting to Proclaiming by Heather MacAskill is an honest memoir about cancer, fear, doubt, faith, and discovering what remains when illness makes the future uncertain.
Holy Plot Twists: God Is Still Writing Your Story
Holy Plot Twists: God Is Still Writing Your Story by Amanda Schaefer combines memoir, biblical reflection, and guided journaling for readers navigating trauma, transformation, and unexpected turns in their own stories.
Beloved Outcast: The Quest for True Belonging
Beloved Outcast: The Quest for True Belonging by Cherie Denna is a candid memoir of abandonment, crime, trauma, complex PTSD, survival, faith, and one woman’s long search for healing, identity, and belonging.
The Willow Still Sings: A Story of Grace, Forgiveness, and the Strength of a Mother’s Love
The Willow Still Sings: A Story of Grace, Forgiveness, and the Strength of a Mother’s Love by Sarah Schwerin is a historical novel set in 1952 Detroit about a family changed by polio and a mother confronting fear, grief, faith, and an uncertain future.
When the Story Changes
There is no single book for every unexpected season, just as there is no single way to move through loss, disappointment, or change.
Sometimes we need practical guidance. Sometimes we need someone else’s story. Sometimes we need a novel that lets us encounter difficult emotions at a little distance.
Wherever life has taken an unexpected turn, we hope one of these books can meet you there.
