Grief Biography

Nicole Avant—diplomat, philanthropist, filmmaker—grew up surrounded by some of the most extraordinary artists of our time: Bill Withers, Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones, Sidney Poitier. Her parents—entertainment mogul, Clarence Avant, and legendary philanthropist, Jacqueline Avant—turned their home into a place of refuge and inspiration for a generation of geniuses. Nicole drew on that magical upbringing to create a stellar career in the music business, become the U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas, and produce critically acclaimed award-winning films and documentaries.

After colliding with a semi-truck, Don Piper died and went to heaven. Ninety minutes later he returned to life on earth. After years of silence, he is now sharing his life-changing story.

When Cody Delistraty lost his mother to cancer in his early 20s, he found himself unsure how to move forward. The typical advice was to move through the five stages, achieve closure, get back to work, go back to normal. So begins a journey into the new frontiers of grief, where Delistraty seeks out the researchers, technologists, therapists, marketers, and communities around the world who may be able to cure the pain of loss in novel ways.

When four-year-old Colton Burpo emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven, his family doesn’t know what to believe. Heaven Is for Real details what Colton saw and his family’s journey towards accepting their young son had visited the afterlife.

My name is Ashlee. I am a victim of murder. Through a series of events and by two shots of a gun, I was made a widow at the age of 28, with my youngest child just six weeks old. I am a victim of infidelity. I have felt unlovable. I have felt rejected. I have had days in my life when I wasn’t sure if I would ever take a breath again, let alone be able to raise my five children by myself. I have lived in fear. I have felt much heartache. I have felt truly broken to my core. I have carried some heavy burdens...not only of my own, but burdens put upon my shoulders by the death of my husband.

Every human being will die. Death is not necessarily a common topic of conversation, but it is a universal experience. However, it is also tinged by a sense of the arcane and the obscure, since people who die can’t generally share their experiences with the rest of humanity. Thus, we look to the wisdom of the living in order to attempt to comprehend death. Victor Methos, author, attorney, and philosopher, in this book has examined the varied viewpoints regarding death and its significance to ten of the greatest intellects mankind has ever produced. These renowned thinkers emerged from ...

A son killed by a single bullet. A mother’s heart shattered. As Tammy Horvath struggles to come to terms with her son’s death, a voice tells her to forgive his killer. With her soul tormented by the loss of her son, Tammy fights to get out of bed every day because she can’t face a seemingly hopeless future. But Luke would want her to be happy. So she pushes forward and embarks on a journey, searching for peace, hope, and a chance to keep her son alive in her heart.

Over six short weeks in 2022, Betsy Thibaut Stephenson lost her son to suicide, mother-in-law to dementia, and family dog to cancer. Rather than succumb to grief’s darkness, Betsy chose to face her losses head-on, accepting grief as an uninvited yet permanent companion in her revised life. Blackbird is a memoir composed in real time, a concise and brutally honest look at the emotional, physical, and spiritual impact of deep despair.

Laurel Braitman spent her childhood learning from her dad how to out-fish grown men, keep bees, and fix carburetors. Diagnosed young with terminal cancer, he raced against the clock to leave her the skills she’d need to survive without him. This was one legacy. Another was relentless perfectionism and the belief that bravery meant never acknowledging your own fear. By her mid-thirties Laurel is a ship about to splinter on the rocks, having learned the hard way that no achievement can protect her from pain or remove the guilt and regret her dad’s death leaves her with.

One woman's journey through unbearable loss. A true story.

Dr. W. Lee Warren, a practicing brain surgeon, assumed he knew most outcomes for people with glioblastoma, head injuries, and other health-care problems. Yet even as he tried to give patients hope, his own heart would sink as he realized, I've seen the end of you. But it became far more personal when the acclaimed doctor experienced an unimaginable family tragedy. That's when he reached the end of himself. Gripping medical stories serve as the backdrop for a raw, honest look at how we can remain on solid ground when everything goes wrong.

When she lost her mother to cancer, everything changed for Jennifer Love Hewitt. In Inheriting Magic, she recounts her journey, sharing memories, photographs, recipes, and the magic-making ethos of a self-proclaimed “Holiday Junkie.” Inheriting Magic is about how grief, being a mom of three, having a deep love for party planning, and being passionate about the holidays turned what could have been an ordinary life into something enchanting. Through it, Jennifer inspires all listeners to add more love, light, and the making of core memories into their everyday lives.

Amy Lin never expected to find a love like the one she shares with her husband, Kurtis, a gifted young architect who pulls her toward joy, adventure, and greater self-acceptance. On a sweltering August morning, only a few months shy of the newlyweds’ move to Vancouver, thirty-two-year-old Kurtis heads out to run a half-marathon with Amy’s family. It’s the last time she sees her husband alive.

How did a fashion icon transform into a beloved humanitarian on the world stage? How was the Princess of Wales able to successfully navigate a complex marital situation to her advantage? Was she or wasn’t she in love that final summer? Diana, A Spencer Forever answers all these questions as the final chapters in Princess Diana’s story unfold in 1996 and 1997. Explore the final months leading up to her tragic death, and the global grieving phenomenon that came to define her. The first biographical fiction in the trilogy, Diana, A Spencer in Love tells the story of the Princess’s first ...

Death is undeniable and unavoidable. We must accept it; there is no other choice. But coming to terms with our mortality can profoundly influence how we live—and how we die. Having been a hospice nurse for decades, Penny Hawkins Smith is an expert on death and dying. As a recovering alcoholic and former drug addict, she knows what it means to change course and become a meaningful contributor to society. Through her work with death, Penny found her purpose in life. In Influencing Death, Penny brings transparency and levity to the grim topic of death.

Genevieve (Gwen) Kingston was just eleven years old when her mother passed away, leaving behind a chest filled with gifts and letters to celebrate the milestones of Gwen’s life and each of her birthdays until age thirty.

When Emily Halnon lost her beloved mother to a rare uterine cancer at just sixty-six years old, she wanted to do something monumental to honor the person her mother had been. Emily's mom had taken up running in her late forties; she ran her first marathon at fifty. She even went skydiving to celebrate her sixtieth birthday. Emily, already an accomplished ultrarunner, decided to try to break the record for the Fastest Known Time by a woman on the Pacific Crest Trail's 460 miles across Oregon.

Trent Preszler thought he was living the life he always wanted, with a job at a winery and a seaside Long Island home, when he was called back to the life he left behind. After years of estrangement, his cancer-stricken father had invited him to South Dakota for Thanksgiving. It would be the last time he saw his father alive. Preszler’s only inheritance was a beat-up wooden toolbox that had belonged to his father, who was a cattle rancher, rodeo champion, and Vietnam War Bronze Star Medal recipient. This family heirloom befuddled Preszler.

Steve Jobs called Jony Ive his “spiritual partner at Apple.” The London-born genius was the second-most powerful person at Apple and the creative force who most embodies Jobs’s spirit, the man who designed the products adopted by hundreds of millions the world over: the iPod, iPad, MacBook Air, the iMac G3, and the iPhone.

"I am the descendant of drinkers and drifters better at passing on their love for the bottle than family history...". Prepare yourself for an unvarnished, harrowing look at one Christian's life. A powerful memoir of knowing and being known by God through the pain of loss, tragedy, and brokenness - Even in Our Darkness explores what it means to fend off doubt and despair, even in the most painful trials. Jack Deere tells the true story of his life growing up near Fort Worth, Texas in the 1950's and the disintegration of his family following his father's suicide.