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These are a collection of novels that you may want to read if you want a piercing in your heart. They are quite heartbreaking, with the themes of personal growth, loss of innocence, and mending of relationships being portrayed. In each novel, we follow the protagonist and their journey through life, even if it doesn't necessarily end in a happy way. They are all beautifully written, exploring different situations in life that individuals have to overcome. 

 Sold

Sold is a contemporary realistic fiction novel, written by Patricia McCormick and published in 2006. Sold tells the story of a young, 13-year-old Nepali girl, Lakshmi, living in a poor, rural area of Nepal. A monsoon rain washes her family’s crops away, which leads to Lakshmi finding a job as a maid to support her family. Adhering to the advice of a stranger, she gets tricked into going to India to stay at a “Happiness House” and sold to prostitution. 

 The Time Traveler’s Wife

 The Time Traveler’s Wife is an imaginative, science fiction, and fantasy novel written by Audrey Niffenegger. This book follows the life of the time traveler, Henry, and his wife Clare. He often uncontrollably travels through the future and past of time while Clare waits for Henry every time he disappears. This story is written in three books within the novel which covers Henry and Clare's life before and after they are married. 

 When Breath Becomes Air

When Breath Becomes Air is a novel written by Paul Kalanithi about himself. A neurosurgeon, getting the news that he is going to die of cancer in his mid-thirties, explores his passion for writing and literature. He writes about his diagnosis and takes the readers on the journey with him on the exploration and importance of life while finding his true self, mending relationships, and growing as a person. 

 Atonement

Written by Ian McEwan, Atonement is a Metafictional novel that is separated into three parts. The novel follows 13-year-old Briony Tallis, in the year 1935, who accuses Robbie, a gardener, of raping her cousin, Lola. Her accusation destroys the lives of Robbie who is forced to fight in the Second World War, her sister, her family, and her own. Briony attempts to "atone" for her sins, living with guilt throughout the novel.