Books like The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold reads as melancholic, bittersweet. These 12 books share its genome — matched by how they actually read, not just their shelf label.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Mitch Albom · 2003

Shares the grief thread

69% genome match

Everything I Never Told You

Celeste Ng · 2014

Shares the grief thread

83% genome match

Three Junes

Julia Glass

Shares the grief thread

76% genome match

Elsewhere

Gabrielle Zevin · 2005

Shares the grief thread

70% genome match

Charming Billy

Alice McDermott

Shares the grief thread

71% genome match

The Dutch House

Ann Patchett · 2019

Shares the grief thread

69% genome match

The Bear Came Over the Mountain

Alice Munro

Shares the grief thread

69% genome match

The Notebook

Nicholas Sparks · 1996

Shares the grief thread

69% genome match

Last Orders

Graham Swift · 2012

Shares the grief thread

80% genome match

Clap When You Land

Elizabeth Acevedo

Shares the grief thread

76% genome match

The tin can tree

Anne Tyler · 1965

Shares the grief thread

69% genome match

The Christmas Box

Richard Paul Evans · 1993

Shares the grief thread

69% genome match