Tears on the Page

[Paul Whybrow]

A good friend, who is an avid reader, asked me for a book recommendation last week. I suggested my favourite read of the year so far, which is Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. It’s a book that deserves its good reviews and it will be one of my annual Favourite Reads of the Year in December.

My friend texted me this afternoon to say that she’d finished the book in four days and that she dreamt about it. She cried at the ending. It’s now her favourite story, and she’s recommending it to her friends.

Such word of mouth support is what turns a book into a bestseller. Grabbing the reader by their heartstrings is essential to make them read on. If they care about the fate of the characters, they’ll be moved to laugh, to sigh in relief and to cry in disappointment. Sad stories sell well. Think of Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling and To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee.

I’m one-third of the way into writing my third novella about an American Civil War veteran. His fiancée died the year before the war started. Since the peace treaty, he’s hidden out in the mountains, trying to recover from what we now call PTSD. He’s just travelled to Atlanta to help his sister rebuild her plantation, ruined by Sherman’s March to the Sea. I intend to have him fall in love at first sight with a former slave freed by the abolition of slavery. There will be passion, fulfilment and heartbreak, for my hero will be returning to the mountains alone to become a trapper in Book 4. Having a love interest isn’t in his destiny. I’m going to kill her off. I hope to make the reader weep! (I’m such a brute).

We discussed tearjerkers three years ago:

https://colony.litopia.com/threads/make-em-cry.3526/

But we have many more members now and plenty of books have been published since 2017.

Which are your favourite sad stories?

Have you written anything that made your tears flow?

 

[Salma Eljahrani]

Which are your favorite sad stories?

Me Before You - Jojo Moyes

Have you written anything that made your tears flow?

Yes, I did but I didn't finish it yet; I couldn't stand crying every time that I wanted to read that part to correct it or to continue writing the next part.
In fact, it was about a seventeen years old girl whose parents are always quarreling, the boy she liked made fun of her, but she still liked him because she couldn't let go of him. When he suggested they could be together, she was so happy that she could fly. But then she discovered that, for him, she was just a sex tool. She drowned in grieve. When her mum knew about it, she threatened her daughter she would tell the father if she ever spoke to any boy in the coming days, she kept threatening her concerning other things too. The mother just seized the opportunity to control her by all means. Days later, the girl couldn't stand her parents' daily fights added to her mother's threats and her awkward moments at the classroom (since the boy I talked about earlier was her classmate) That guy even told his friends what happened between the two of them and made her life unbearable.
The poor girl just couldn't stand it. She tried to commit suicide... But couldn't; She was afraid... And maybe she was still hoping someone will finally take care of her and take her out of the shell she built around her.
And then there were two girls; Her true friends. They accompanied her and stayed by her side to make her feel better.
The girl didn't recover from her depression only after long months of suffering.
But still, she could do it, and she's alive now.
She is alive because she could write and take her grief out.
She is alive and trying to write her story without denying it was her...

What do you think?

 

[echo.]

Only book I've ever cried over, is 'The Ghost Road,' by Pat Barker.

Shotvarfet. 'Nuff said. I have a penchant for the First World War though, and 'Journey's End' got me close at points - Must you sit on Osborne's bed?

I'm a big fan of that understated tragedy that's never expressly put, but keenly felt, and I like to try it myself. When I (eventually) put the final touches to my first novel the other year, there was one thing that brought my always-first-time-reader-and-never-very-critical-but-consistently-wonderful-mother close to tears. The whole thing grew out of the death of Paul, the protagonist's little brother. It was fate that it worked out so that, releasing a bird into the garden, 'Fly away Peter, fly away...' just got a whole lot more relevant.

Special shoutout to Siegfried Sassoon's 'Last Meeting' though - cannot read that bad boy without sobbing.

 

[CageSage]

There was an Elizabeth Moon book, but I don't recall the title (I read it to the point it became dust).

 

[Salma Eljahrani]

There was an Elizabeth Moon book, but I don't recall the title

1. Sheepfarmer's Daughter
2. Divided Allegiance
3. Oath of Gold
4. Surrender None
5. Liar's Oath
6. Oath of Fealty
7. Kings of the North
8. Echoes of Betrayal
9. Limits of Power
10. Crown of Renewal
11. Hunting Party
12. Sporting Chance
13. Winning Colors
14. Once a Hero
15. Rules of Engagement
16. Change of Command
17. Against the Odds
18. Trading in Danger
19. Marque and Reprisal
20. Engaging the Enemy
21. Command Decision
22. Victory Conditions
23. Cold Welcome
24. Into the Fire
25. Sassinac
26. The death of sleep
27. Generation warrior
28. Remnant population
29. The speed of dark

Can you recall it now?
(Just looked at Elizabeth Moon - Wikipedia )

 

[CageSage]

It was one of the volumes in the Deed of Paksenarrion trilogy. A big moment, made up of small things.

 

[Hannah F]

Me Before You - Jojo Moyes

Yes, I did but I didn't finish it yet; I couldn't stand crying every time that I wanted to read that part to correct it or to continue writing the next part.
In fact, it was about a seventeen years old girl whose parents are always quarreling, the boy she liked made fun of her, but she still liked him because she couldn't let go of him. When he suggested they could be together, she was so happy that she could fly. But then she discovered that, for him, she was just a sex tool. She drowned in grieve. When her mum knew about it, she threatened her daughter she would tell the father if she ever spoke to any boy in the coming days, she kept threatening her concerning other things too. The mother just seized the opportunity to control her by all means. Days later, the girl couldn't stand her parents' daily fights added to her mother's threats and her awkward moments at the classroom (since the boy I talked about earlier was her classmate) That guy even told his friends what happened between the two of them and made her life unbearable.
The poor girl just couldn't stand it. She tried to commit suicide... But couldn't; She was afraid... And maybe she was still hoping someone will finally take care of her and take her out of the shell she built around her.
And then there were two girls; Her true friends. They accompanied her and stayed by her side to make her feel better.
The girl didn't recover from her depression only after long months of suffering.
But still, she could do it, and she's alive now.
She is alive because she could write and take her grief out.
She is alive and trying to write her story without denying it was her...

What do you think?

I think you should write that book. It will touch many people, some because they see themselves in parts of your story. Please do finish it.

 

[Hannah F]

"The Toymakers" by Robert Dinsdale. Not all of it, but the part of it that made me weep, made me weep buckets. Phillipa Gregory's "Three Queens, Three Sisters". I already knew King James IV of Scotland died in the battle at Flanders, but the way she portrayed his wife's grief had me reaching for the tissues.
However, I cry easily. I even cried when Woody got left behind in "Toy Story" 1.

 

[RK Wallis]

"The Toymakers" by Robert Dinsdale. Not all of it, but the part of it that made me weep, made me weep buckets. Phillipa Gregory's "Three Queens, Three Sisters". I already knew King James IV of Scotland died in the battle at Flanders, but the way she portrayed his wife's grief had me reaching for the tissues.
However, I cry easily. I even cried when Woody got left behind in "Toy Story" 1.

After the Huddle, I thought The Toymakers something to go on my TBR list, but if it's a tearjerker then that changes things.

I do my best to avoid tearjerkers, it's not an experience I enjoy, but all time favs are Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet (he gets you a few times in that one) and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. More recent is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. But even more recent, as in something published in the last 3 years, I'd say the one I just finished, The Reunion by Samantha Hayes (2018), though funnily enough, I wouldn't recommend it unless you like head-hopping (which I don't) and a premise just a stretch too unbelievable. Still, it elicited tears (not the unbelievable bit)!

 

[Hannah F]

After the Huddle, I thought The Toymakers something to go on my TBR list, but if it's a tearjerker then that changes things.

I do my best to avoid tearjerkers, it's not an experience I enjoy, but all time favs are Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet (he gets you a few times in that one) and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. More recent is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. But even more recent, as in something published in the last 3 years, I'd say the one I just finished, The Reunion by Samantha Hayes (2018), though funnily enough, I wouldn't recommend it unless you like head-hopping (which I don't) and a premise just a stretch too unbelievable. Still, it elicited tears (not the unbelievable bit)!

I so recommend "The Toymakers". There's a bit about WW1 and PTSD which is the tear-jerker bit. The rest is completely brilliant and beautiful.

 

[Salma Eljahrani]

I think you should write that book. It will touch many people, some because they see themselves in parts of your story. Please do finish it.

Okay then! I will! Thank you