Breaking up with a friend

Breaking up with a friend can be difficult. Here is reading list of book recommendations about broken friendships/relationships that will give you the courage, faith and empowerment to heal and move forward again.


books on breaking up with a friend

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

A charming novel about fake friendships and fake people by Jane Austen that captures how fickle people can be set in an engaging story full of heart felt drama, romance and friendship story about a young woman venturing away from home for the first time and frequenting the social circles of Bath.

northanger abbey, jane austen, books on friendship

Best Friends Forever by Irene S Levine

An insightful book in the world of female friendships, which will leave you with the perhaps obvious realisation that friendships are never permanent, they are fluid, dynamic and uncontrollable. The book validates the feelings of disappointment, confusion, loss, anger that you may have when going through a difficult period in a friendship. We often feel devastated when a close “BFF” (“best friends forever”) friendship ends for no reason. Empathetic and full of relevant advice, the books helps is to make sense of the loss, work through our feelings of pain and hurt and move forward to build stronger and better friendships going forward. The book will also motivate you to be a better friend.

best friends forever, books on falling out

What Did I Do Wrong by Liz Pryor

Using examples and stories of friendship breakups from her own personal life, the author brilliantly articulates how the female friendship has been seen to be perfect with us forever attached at the hip to our BFF. Yet the reality of female friendship is so different and most women go through a BFF break up at some point in life. The book details how to get over a bad breakup from working through the feelings of anger, loss, shame, confusion and hurt to initiating friendship break ups yourself and choosing better friends in the future.

The Friend Who Got Away: Twenty Women’s True Life Tales of Friendships that Blew Up, Burnt Out or Faded Away by Jenny Offill & Elissa Schappell

As the title suggests, the book is a collection of stories of friendships going sour for a variety of reasons from one person changing, to friendships ruined by competition, personal ambition or for no other reason than having ran their course. What’s unique about this book is that the two contributors to the book were once best friends and outline their side of the story of what caused their painful breakup. With a range of emotions touched upon in the book, you will find the stories relatable in many different ways.

books on friends falling out

Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy

A story about two best friends going to university in Dublin for the first time after having spent their childhood and teenage years in the Irish countryside of Knockgeln. A beautiful concoction of characters as the girls come-of-age in this heart-warming book of a new life, new friendships, romance and tragedy. A hugely comforting read.

circle of friends, best books on falling out

 

Related recommended reading lists:

Abandonment

Bereavement

Breaking Up

Bullying

Consolation in times of sorrow

Feeling lonely

 

More book prescriptions can be found at Book Therapy.

A big hello and thank you for reading! Passionate about literature, psychology, and life I launched Book Therapy as an alternative form of therapy using the power of literature. I create reading lists/personalised book prescriptions based on your individual needs, this is my signature personalised reading service. You can also check out Book Therapy’s other free reading lists and A- Z of book prescriptions (covering both fiction and non-fiction). These suggest books based on your existing life situation (e.g. anxiety, job change, relationship heartache) as well as interests (e.g memoir, historical fiction, non-fiction, crime etc). There’s also a Children’s A — Z of Book Prescriptions. Feel free to check out the blog for more literary gems. There’s also a post on my personal story of how I entered the world of bibliotherapy and book curation. And if you’d like to connect, email me at bijal@booktherapy.io or www.booktherapy.io.

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