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. Fiction about mental health and illness in varying genres (genre listed first in notes), selected by SJPL Librarians.
Psychological suspense. An octogenarian Wisconsin widow faces off against an eight-year-old troublemaker in this first-rate tale of psychological suspense from Bollen (The Lost Americans). At the height of the Covid lockdown, the…
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…
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…
Literary fiction. After a deployment in the Iraq War, Joseph Thomas is fighting to find his footing. Now a MD/PhD student at The University of Pennsylvania, and an emergency department tech at a hospital in North Philly, he becomes…
Historical fiction, Novels-within-novels. Vienna, 1919. A once-mighty empire has finally come crashing down—and a mysterious young woman, unable to speak, has turned up on the streets. A doctor appeals to the public for information about…
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…
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…
Literary fiction. "I’m not inarticulate, but I leave language to the room around me,” says Fine Gråbøl’s nameless narrator as she dreams of furniture flickering to life in the room she occupies at a temporary psychiatric care unit for…
Historical fiction. The Gainsborough girls—Molly the elder and Peggy a bit younger—enjoy a fairly feral and unrestrained early childhood in Suffolk, despite their mother’s attempts to rein them in. Molly shows signs of a troubling tendency…
Psychological fiction, Horror. 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Contemporary romance. Ryan (Reel) brings both tears and laughter in a powerhouse second-chance romance that shines a sensitive light on mental health issues. Following a stillbirth, Yasmen Wade spirals into a depression that drives a wedge…
Contemporary romance. Two people meet in the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit…
Literary fiction. When a once-promising young writer agrees to ghostwrite a famous physicist's memoir, his livelihood is already in jeopardy: Plagued by debt, he's grown distant from his wife--a successful AI designer--and is haunted by an…
Psychological fiction. Blue Lake and her mother, Scarlet, have been running from a mysterious villain as long as Blue has been alive. They change their identities when they move, choosing colors from a box of crayons to name themselves.…
