It often feels like the world is a cold, dark place, especially today in modern times. I turn to fiction as both a place to escape our grim day-to-day and as an outlet to grapple with these issues. Surely, fiction is big enough for both kinds of stories. But in this post, I want to highlight books new and old that uplift and give comfort, that give you happy endings. I was surprised when I started doing reader’s advisory professionally how many people specifically requested books that ended well. How many can there really be? I thought with a curmudgeonly. Well, I proved myself wrong. This list of feel-good books with happy endings is the answer to that question.
Spoiler Warning
Keep in mind that spoilers are inevitable in a post like this, so rather than give away the exact endings, I’ll talk about each book more generally. I’ve read and enjoyed each one of them.
Dear Mrs. Bird by A.J. Pearce
I took Dear Mrs. Bird (2018) by A.J. Pearce off the New Releases shelf on the library on a whim, and I’m so glad I took a chance. Reading this book through depression was a soothing tonic. To be sure, young twenty-something Emmy Lake and her friends experience tragedy and hardship in London during WWII, but Emmy’s pluck and feisty spirit pulls you through. By the end, the novel closes with a joyous reunion and real character change. Bravo for this winning historical fiction debut!
How to read it… Add Dear Mrs. Bird on Goodreads, purchase on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
Saving Winslow by Sharon Creech
Oh man, this book hit me straight in the feels! If you want to be boosted up with the power of love, happiness, and community, definitely pick up Sharon Creech’s Saving Winslow (2018). In this story, a boy is determined to save a weak donkey baby and raise and nurture it to health. Despite resistance from naysayers in his rural town, the boy persists. This middle grade novel for kids is a quick read I devoured in 24 hours while on vacation from work and from devastating headlines. We often think children’s books are the first place you should go when you want a happy-endings book. But the truth is, a lot of children’s books are just as dark if not darker than what you’d find in the “adult” section. Saving Winslow has its emotionally grueling moments, but overall it’s a joyous read.
How to read it… Add Saving Winslow on Goodreads, purchase on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler
I’ve already highlighted Anne Tyler’s Vinegar Girl (2016) on this blog a few times (as one of the best books I read in 2016 and on my list of 25 short books you can read in a day or readathon), but it fits here, too. This contemporary adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series of retellings. In Tyler’s version, Kate Battista lives with her eccentric scientist-professor father in Baltimore and has a dead-end job in a daycare, even though children annoy her. When her dad schemes to set her up with his new lab assistant, Pyotr, as a ploy to get him a green card, Kate finds all sorts of feelings stirred up about what she does and doesn’t want: from life and from love. This book is a quietly swoonworthy reminder that everyone has a shot at a Happily Ever After.
How to read it… Add Vinegar Girl on Goodreads, purchase on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
Sigh. I have so much love for Matthew Quick’s The Silver Linings Playbook (2008), and not just because it’s set in my area. I’ve also featured this book on my post about bipolar heroes in romance stories, but it definitely belongs on this list of books with happy endings. Our hero, Pat, believes in silver linings to every negative situation, a cheery creed he clings to after his bipolar disorder and eroding marriage came to a head. But Quick won’t let Pat get a happy ending so easily. If he wants it, Pat needs to work for it and really change, and the opportunity that similarly complicated Tiffany offers him is Pat’s shot at testing his blind optimism. This book will make you laugh, cry, and come away feeling changed for the better, just like Pat.
How to read it… Add The Silver Linings Playbook on Goodreads, purchase on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson
I read D.E. Stevenson’s Miss Buncle’s Book a few years ago for a project at work, and I often recommend it to people who want books with happy endings. Set in a cozy English village called Silverstream, the novel follows Miss Barbara Buncle’s efforts to secure an income by writing a book that thinly disguises members of the community. Sure enough, the book causes a sensation—it’s a runaway bestseller but it plunges Silverstream residents in scandal. This story set between the world wars is filled with quirky characters and funny events. It doesn’t feel at all like it was written in 1934!
How to read it… Add Miss Buncle’s Book on Goodreads, purchase on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Oh, Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen’s classic novel feels timeless even 200 years after its publication in 1813. I remember the first time I read it, I seriously didn’t think there would be a happy ending. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. But Austen puts her hero and heroine through all kinds of conflict that should push them away only to bring Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy back together again. I fell in love with this story, and every time I find myself wary of trusting love, I return to it.
How to read it… Add Pride and Prejudice on Goodreads, purchase on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
When you’re binge-reading National Book Award-winning The Poet X (2018), you will probably be thinking: “This is on a list of books with happy endings?” Certainly I had my doubts. Renowned poet and spoken word artist Elizabeth Acevedo definitely makes you think the worst is going to happen to Xiomara, who strains against her mother’s strict Catholicism as a teen in contemporary Harlem. Yet Acevedo gives Xiomara—and readers—the cathartic ending they’ve dared to hope for. By the end of this YA novel-in-verse, you’ll feel empowered to speak up with your own beautiful, unique voice, just like Xiomara.
How to read it… Add The Poet X on Goodreads, purchase on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
Calvin by Martine Leavitt
Calvin (2015) is another novel that moves you to the brink, thinking there will never be a happy ending, until BAM! You get hit with the feels and a happily ever after. It’s a rush, a thrill, and a relief to warm your heart. Martine Leavitt’s contemporary YA novel follows Calvin, a teen newly diagnosed with schizophrenia, and Susie, his neighbor, friend, and crush. When Calvin gets the idea that he has to walk across frozen Lake Michigan to find the creator of the Calvin and Hobbes comics in order to reverse his delusions, it’s an endurance test of the mind, soul, and body. Susie’s fierce devotion to sticking by and supporting Calvin had me cheering them on. I was moved by how Leavitt wrote Calvin’s hallucinatory best friend, a giant tiger he names Hobbes, just like the comic strip side kick in the cartoons, to be a protective force. Martine is on the faculty in my MFA program, and you really see why. This book is suspenseful, a real page-turner that’ll put you through the wringer and reward you with a smile. Members of the mentally ill community like me know how important happy endings are for characters struggling with those challenges.
How to read it… Add Calvin on Goodreads, purchase on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
If you loved You’ve Got Mail, the Nora Ephron romantic comedy, as much as I did, you’ll adore Rainbow Rowell’s debut novel, Attachments (2011). This novel is set around the turn of the millennium at a time of great change for newspapers like the one where best friends/journalists Beth and Jennifer work. Both women share their lives through emails and instant messages that Lincoln, a geeky hunk, is forced to read when management wants all staff communication audited. But even though Lincoln sees multiple red flags and should report Beth and Jennifer for profanity and other minor taboos, he ends up falling for Beth, the talented film critic. Meanwhile, Beth develops a crush on the new IT guy, not realizing it’s Lincoln. Can their relationship ever go offline and IRL, especially if Lincoln has to confess that he’s been spying on her? This novel is about choosing to grow, even if it means wading into unknown waters and trusting your heart.
How to read it… Add Attachments on Goodreads, purchase on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
Don’t Want to Miss a Thing by Jill Mansell
Don’t Want to Miss a Thing (2013) was my first novel by UK women’s fiction sensation Jill Mansell, and boy was it a good one to start getting to know her brand of feel-good books (despite its cheesy title). Mansell’s novels often take place in small communities where the lives of several eccentric characters overlap, causing humorous mishaps, crossed wires, and love-driven happy endings, not just romantic love but familial and friendship love as well. If you’re a Love Actually fan like me, you’ll fall for Mansell’s books and their similar overlapping plots that lead to love. Start with this book, which takes place in Briarwood, a village tucked away in Britain’s scenic Cotswolds. When Dexter, a rich London playboy, is left in charge of his late sister’s eight-month-old daughter, he has to put his old wild life to rest and raise her in Briarwood. A friendship that sparks with his neighbor, comic artist Molly, blossoms into something more… but can people really change? Are their personalities just too different? You’ll race to the end to find out in this heartwarming story.
How to read it… Add Don’t Want to Miss a Thing on Goodreads, purchase on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
It seemed like everybody had read this historical novel by the time I did in 2011, but it didn’t matter: I finally saw what the fuss was about. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2008) co-written by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows is definitely a cozy classic. The novel is set in 1946, just after World War II, and mainly takes place on the British island of Guernsey, which saw much hardship during the conflict. A man from the island starts up a correspondence with young, London-based writer Juliet and tells her of the book and pie club on the island during the war, a friendship that kept the community strong during tough time, despite personality friction among the members. Juliet smells a story, but more than that, she gets drawn into Guernsey’s world and knows she has to see the island for herself and meet the people who feel like family. Netflix adapted the novel into a 2018 movie, so you’ll definitely want to check that out if you love the novel and want to see the stunning scenery for yourself.
How to read it… Add The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on Goodreads, purchase on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve read and reread Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary (1998), and I even got a chance to write about it on Electric Literature. The 2001 movie adaptation also brought Fielding’s story to life, immortalizing so many great scenes starring Renée Zellweger as Bridget.
One of my all-time favorite books, this story is definitely comfort food, especially if you’re feeling like just as much of a hot mess as Bridget, a thirty-something singleton living in London. Over the course of a year, Bridget records her every waking thought and feeling in a diary, confessing her fears that she’s never going to find love, wealth, happiness, or even a dress that doesn’t make her feel enormous and self conscious. Fielding does a great job steering Bridget towards her happy ending and then continues the series. I’ll never get tired of reading how Bridget—flawed, floundering, but fiercely devoted to her friends—finds some measure of self acceptance. And if she ends up with a certain handsome lawyer Mark Darcy (yes, this story is based on Pride and Prejudice), all the better.
How to read it… Add Bridget Jones’s Diary on Goodreads, purchase on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin
Gabrielle Zevin writes books you can’t put down. When I started her The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (2014), I practically inhaled the novel, and the same goes for her 2017 novel Young Jane Young, which was one of my Best Books of 2017. In this novel, a chorus of women tell the story of Aviva Grossman, a college intern for a Florida congressman who fell in love with the married politician. When their affair was discovered, Aviva took the blunt of the blame in the media and in her close-knit Jewish community. Aviva flees and starts over with a new name in a small New England town, but when she feels called to get involved with politics again, her daughter will find out the truth about her mother’s scandalous past. The novel has a bittersweet ending, but it’s one that feels empowering. Zevin’s message seems to be that the strength of the sisterhood can overcome misogyny, especially if we lend each other love, support, and understanding.
How to read it… Add Young Jane Young on Goodreads, purchase on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan
Definitely one of my all-star favorite comfort food writers is Britain’s Jenny Colgan, and not least because her books often focus on food. Just try to read Little Beach Street Bakery (2014) without reaching for a sweet treat or getting out your apron. This uplifting story stars Polly, who is just getting out of a bad relationship and a failed career. When she relocates to a quiet seaside resort town on the Cornish coast, Polly finds her passion for life and love returning as she pitches in at a bakery and rediscovers her joy for baking. Like most of Colgan’s heroines, Polly heals from a hard time among the eccentric community.
How to read it… Add Little Beach Street Bakery on Goodreads, purchase on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
Elevation by Stephen King
In Stephen King’s novella Elevation (2018), a man discovers he is losing weight at an astonishing and unbelievable rate. Eventually, he might get to weighing less than air and just what, disappear? This sobering future puts things in perspective for him, and he chooses kindness and compassion over hatred and diviseveness in his changing Maine community.
Now, I admit that Stephen King’s novella Elevation (2018)’s “happy ending” is a matter of perspective. Surely you can read the ending on a more tragic or bittersweet lens. But I believe King wanted us to read his fable to be an optimistic response to overcoming divisiveness, being open minded, and transcending the earthly hatred that works like a cancer to rot you from the inside. Maybe that sounds a little sinister, but in this last book I’m including on my list of the best books with happy endings, I wanted to feature a story that showed how working through bad things can earn a satisfying, feel-good finale.
How to read it… Add Elevation on Goodreads, purchase on Amazon, and find in a library through WorldCat.
