Sometimes you just need a good cry. We understand. If you’re a fan of curling up on the couch and getting swept away with a story, then keep the tissues nearby for these books - five of our top tearjerking reads.

The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom

Author Mitch Albom might be better known for ‘Tuesdays With Morrie’, but it’s ‘Five People’ that had us crying into our pillows. The afterlife journey of amusement park maintenance man Eddie, this book made us think about how connected we are to the lives of so many people around us, though we may never even have noticed those we affected most.

The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold 

More celestial activity in this bestselling book. Fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon watches the world she once inhabited from her own personal heaven, as her loved ones at home try to come to terms with her death. Our own Saoirse Ronan starred in Peter Jackson’s 2009 adaptation, but the novel packs a much bigger punch.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling 

By the time book seven in the Harry Potter series came around we were already in mourning for the characters we would have to say goodbye to, after so many years of magical adventures. What we didn’t know is that some of those characters would never see a happy ending. Those that sacrificed themselves for the greater good broke our Muggle hearts.

Anybody Out There – Marian Keys

Ireland churns out top-notch female authors like no other country on earth, but Marian Keyes is simply a class above. Anybody Out There had us crying from laughter at the continuing adventures of the Walsh sisters, but the salty tears flowed for real for central character Anna when we realised where her missing husband Aidan had gone, and how life would never be the same again. 

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas – John Boyne

We can’t even think about this story without welling up. Irish author John Boyne’s masterful tale of the Holocaust through the eyes of two young boys left us utterly heartbroken. Bruno, son of an SS officer, becomes best of friends with Shmuel, a Jewish boy imprisoned in the concentration camp beside his new home. One day one boy crosses the divide, and everything changes.