Three Books to Help You Get Over a Break-Up

Books that have been written to help people overcome a break-up don't contain magic formulas or definitive answers. However, they can act as a compass to point you in the right direction if you're going through this kind of situation.
Three Books to Help You Get Over a Break-Up
Sergio De Dios González

Written and verified by the psychologist Sergio De Dios González.

Last update: 09 February, 2022

Books arent only good company, they can also be a real source of comfort in difficult times. In fact, some books come in really handy when you’re going through a difficult situation and provide the answers that you’re looking for. For instance, when you’re trying to get over a break-up.

What can books offer you in this kind of experience? In short, they help you better understand it, make decisions, and get some clues about how to move forward.

These books were written by experts or people who’ve experienced the situation firsthand and overcame it. Therefore, they have the enormous value of experience behind them. Without further ado, let’s take a look at these three books to help you get over a break-up.

“Reading a good book is an incessant dialogue in which the book speaks and the soul answers.”

-André Maurois-

Woman reading books to get over a breakup

1. How to Overcome Emotional Dependency

This book by Walter Riso deals with one of the issues that often lies behind the difficulty in assimilating a break-up. That’s emotional dependency. This occurs because it’s quite common that you seek out relationships to uncover underlying problems in yourself.

When this happens, the break-up is far more difficult to assimilate. There’s a huge risk that everything will turn into a pathological kind of pain. Walter Riso dots the i’s on this topic and helps you figure out if this is the case for you. Even if it isn’t, the book still offers some valuable tips for managing your loss.

2. Eat, Pray, Love

This is a classic that was not too long ago brought to the big screen. Its author, Elizabeth Gilbert, with her extremely characteristic style, shapes an entertaining and dynamic work that’s rich in content. Furthermore, it’s a book that’s really easy to read.

It’s an autobiographical novel whose common thread is the author’s own personal evolution. She describes step by step, her feelings of disappointment and frustration. However, these are emotions that you can transform when you start to accept reality and begin to look inside yourself. Her message of hope is much needed in a time when everything seems so fleeting.

Woman reading one of the books to help you get over a break-up.

3. Love in the Time of Cholera

This is a literary classic by the renowned author, Gabriel García Márquez. It doesn’t contain advice or hints on how to deal with specific situations, but there are fabulous descriptions of all the possible forms of love. Also, how important individual differences are when it comes to understanding, forming, and consolidating bonds.

This book is romance at its finest. In addition, it’s a work of contrasts, passing from the absurd to the lucid in a few words. As with all good literature, this book reveals the truth through fiction.

There are many more books that focus on how to get over a break-up. However, if you’re looking for one to help you right now, you’ll find in these some perfect advice so you can reflect and emotionally manage the situation you’re going through.


All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.


  • Gil, H. & Pérez, L.; Sosa, Y. & Gutiérrez, A. (2021). La dependencia emocional: un problema de la psicología y otras ciencias humanísticas. EDUMECENTRO, 13(2), 269-286. http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2077-28742021000200269&lng=es&tlng=es
  • Peñafiel Muñoz, O. (2011). Ruptura amorosa y terapia narrativa. Ajayu Órgano de Difusión Científica del Departamento de Psicología UCBSP, 9(1), 53-86.

This text is provided for informational purposes only and does not replace consultation with a professional. If in doubt, consult your specialist.