With tears, tension, laughter, or love, these works of fiction explore the many facets of mental illness- from it's impact on the self, those close to it, considerations, and treatment, to perceptions of mental illness by society, both literally and metaphorically; if Sylvia Plath's "the Bell Jar" captured your interest, this list will have reads for you. Fiction about mental health and illness in varying genres (genre listed first in notes), selected by SJPL Librarians.
Psychological fiction. In a dorm room at her safety school, surrounded by corn-fed boys and scornful girls, Alice is losing her mind. Her first semester is spent clinging to middling grades between drunken hookups and roommate fights. The next…
Contemporary romance. Nadia Fabiola wants to lose herself in Evergreen—the Jersey Shore town where she grew up vacationing with her family—and never look back at her glamorous, gainfully employed former self. After a shocking lupus diagnosis turned…
Literary fiction, Translations. From the author of Last Words on Earth comes a book articulating the final years of Aliocha Coll, one of Spain’s most innovative writers as he completes his masterpiece. Living alone in Paris, estranged from his…
Literary fiction. Steven is now over 50. His modest career as an academic has plateaued and his marriage has gone stale, in large part due to his emotional withdrawal, a lifelong pattern he recognizes. Now, he and his wife have separated—“taking a…
Horror. Cora Zeng, a crime scene cleaner, is haunted by her sister Delilah's murder - she was pushed in front of a train by a killer who yelled "bat eater." Now, crime scenes don't faze her, but germs and hidden viruses do. Since the murder, reality…
Relationship fiction. Maddy Banks is just like any other stressed-out sophomore at NYU. Between schoolwork, navigating life in the city, and a recent breakup, it’s normal to be feeling overwhelmed. But Maddy’s latest low is devastatingly low, and…
Mysteries. Much to their parents’ dismay, Elaine, Maeve, and Remi Fitch aren’t close—especially the much younger Remi, who suffers from what her therapist calls “millennial ennui.” As the sisters prepare to gather on the Fourth of July to celebrate…
Literary fiction, Historical fiction. It is said that when one person in a family is unstable, the whole family is destabilized. Meet the Shreds. Olivia is the sister in the spotlight, but when her stunning confidence morphs into something erratic…
Magical realism, Historical fiction, Afrofantasy. Twelve years after armed men forced Jane Edwards and her family from their home, a traumatic event that caused Jane to lose her voice, she faces the daunting task of saving her new home in the…
Mainstream fiction. Nora November was dead for several minutes. Now she divides her life into two distinct parts, the Before and the After. Before Nora was unhappy, unreliable, and meek; After Nora feels renewed. She has a new lease on life and…
Dark fantasy. First in a series. Adrien Desfourneaux, professor of magic, must survive his own failing mental health and a tenuous partnership with a dangerous ally in order to save the city of Astrum from a spreading curse.
Adrien Desfourneaux,…
Dark fantasy. First in a series. In the kingdom of Middren, gods are not born of nature but of human desire—and they are illegal. Following a brutal war, all worship is outlawed and "veigas" like Kissen hunt down and slaughter any deity that dares…
Psychological fiction. Sally Diamond cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died.
Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry…
Psychological fiction, Literary fiction. A look at motherhood and mental health follows a young Indigenous woman who discovers the picture-perfect life she always hoped for may have horrifying consequences. On the surface, Alice is exactly where she…
Literary fiction, Translations. In this radical, funny, and mercilessly honest novel about motherhood, Anna is utterly lost after giving birth. She and her family move to the unfamiliar, snowy city of Stockholm. Anxiety threatens to completely…
Literary fiction, First person narratives. Trapped in a corporate nightmare, Cassie, plagued by a miniature black hole that feeds on her depression and anxiety, ends up unexpectedly pregnant after her CEO demands she cross an illegal threshold and…
Psychological fiction, Literary fiction. A novel narrated by the concealed inner selves of a woman on the brink examines the life of Katherine, a lost creative soul and suburban mother of two, who has struggled into her forties with the urge to…
Literary fiction. While working at a dead-end job at a movie theater, college dropout Harley attempts to take his own life, but is interrupted by his new roommate who takes him under his wing, showing him everything that makes life worth living…
Relationship fiction. In 2016 London, Sam Mensah is frantically searching for Efe Owusu-Mensah, his disappeared wife. With a parallel narrative, Appiah unspools Efe’s story, beginning 19 years earlier when her parents sent her and her younger…
Relationship fiction, Time Slip. After overworked Chicago graphic designer Isla Abbott has a breakdown following her mother’s death, she decides to relocate to a bungalow just outside of St. Louis, hoping for a fresh start. There she starts…
