10 Classics That Will Wreck Your Heart—And Stay With You Forever

1. The Bell Jar

"Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace."

If you know Sylvia Plath’s story, you already sense the melancholy woven into this novel. If you don’t, The Bell Jar is the perfectly devastating introduction.

This semi-autobiographical classic follows Esther Greenwood, a college student with dreams of becoming a poet. As societal expectations tighten around her, Esther spirals into depression, her sense of self slipping further away. Her journey through a mental institution is hauntingly intimate, capturing the suffocating weight of mental illness with raw honesty. A deeply moving read, this book comes with strong trigger warnings.

Buy here: The Bell Jar (Cappuccino Edition)

2. The Trial

“It would have been so pointless to kill himself that, even if he had wanted to, the pointlessness would have made him unable.”

Unfinished yet unforgettable, The Trial is one of Franz Kafka’s most surreal and unsettling explorations of anxiety, alienation, and authority. The classic novel follows Josef K., a seemingly ordinary man who is abruptly arrested and prosecuted by a faceless, incomprehensible legal system, though he is never told his crime.

The novel feels eerily close to anyone who has battled anxiety or felt crushed by invisible systems of control. A demanding read that may require pauses, but always leaves a lasting mark.

Buy here: The Trial

3. The Diary of a Young Girl

“It’s difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality.”

Few of us can truly grasp the reality of living through war, but The Diary of a Young Girl brings it heartbreakingly close. On her thirteenth birthday, Anne received a diary that would become a window into her world as she and her Jewish family hid from the Nazis in Amsterdam. For two years, they lived in the cramped “Secret Annex,” enduring hunger, fear, and isolation before being betrayed.

Through it all, Anne wrote with astonishing insight, humour, and hope, capturing both her spirit and the unimaginable weight of her circumstances. This deeply human account is both devastating and unforgettable.

Buy here: The Diary of a Young Girl

4. Veronika Decides to Die

“Many people don't allow themselves to love...because there are a lot of things at risk a lot of future and a lot of past.”

As the title suggests, Veronika Decides to Die, but her story unfolds in ways you won’t expect. Veronika is a young Slovenian woman who seemingly has it all: a good job, loving family, and romantic attention. Yet she feels unfulfilled and takes a fatal dose of sleeping pills, only to wake up in a mental hospital.

There, she learns she has just days left to live. Faced with her own mortality, Veronika begins to see life with startling clarity. Part heartbreak and part healing, this classic is best read with a warm cuppa and an open heart.

Buy here: Veronika Decides to Die

5. Letters to Milena

“Written kisses don't reach their destination, rather they are drunk on the way by the ghosts.”

Mix melancholy, romance, and vulnerability—and you’ll find Letters to Milena. In these letters to Milena Jesenská, a translator who became both muse and confidante, Franz Kafka lays himself bare.

His words swing between passion and despair, tenderness and self-doubt, creating a portrait of a man both haunted and deeply in love. This collection will wreck you beautifully—and might just inspire you to write a love letter of your own.

Buy here: Letters to Milena

6. Anna Karenina

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

Tolstoy opens his masterpiece with this haunting line, setting the tone for a novel that unravels the tragedy of Anna Karenina. Trapped in a loveless marriage, Anna risks everything for a consuming love affair with Count Vronsky, defying the rigid expectations of Russian high society.

Woven alongside is a sweeping portrait of 19th-century Russia, making this both a timeless love story and a searing exploration of morality, class, and the human heart.

Buy here: Anna Karenina

7. Giovanni’s Room

“You don’t have a home until you leave it and then, when you have left it, you never can go back.”

Nothing quite matches the ache of a raw queer fiction that refuses to fade with time—and Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin is exactly that. Set in 1950s Paris, it follows David, an American man grappling with his desires, identity, and the weight of societal expectations, forcing him into a spiral of internalised homophobia.

When he meets Giovanni, a charming Italian bartender, their passionate relationship forces David to confront love, guilt, and the life he truly wants. Get your heart ready before you pick it up. It will be stretched, shattered, and softened all at once.

Buy here: Giovonni's Room

8. A Thousand Splendid Suns

“A man's heart is a wretched, wretched thing. It isn't like a mother's womb. It won't bleed. It won't stretch to make room for you.”

A wounded country and a cruel fate cannot stop beautiful relationships from emerging and lasting—and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is proof of that.

Mariam is just fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry the troubled Rasheed. Nearly two decades later, fifteen-year-old Laila faces tragedy and must join Mariam’s unhappy household. Together, they form a bond as deep as sisterhood and as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. Hosseini’s narrative is both heartbreaking and hopeful, tugging at your heartstrings and leaving you gasping for a deep, reflective breath.

Also read: Friendship Day 2025: Top 5 Classic Literary Friendships Like Holmes & Huck Finn

9. Beloved

“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”

If you crave a heart-wrenching story that defies a single genre, Beloved is it—gothic, poetic, and devastatingly intimate. Sethe, born into slavery, escaped to Ohio, yet freedom remains elusive; the horrors of her past at Sweet Home continue to shadow her. Her home is haunted by the ghost of her nameless baby, known only as Beloved.

Morrison’s prose weaves bitter poetry with taut suspense, capturing the weight of memory, grief, and love that cannot be contained. This novel might haunt your thoughts later but you will not regret the pain it puts you through.

Buy here: Beloved

10. The Idiot

“It is better to be unhappy and know the worst, than to be happy in a fool's paradise.”

Last on the list—but it’s Dostoevsky, so brace yourself for melancholy at its finest. Taken to be an idiot, the naïve Prince Myshkin visits his distant relative, General Yepanchin, hoping to charm him, his wife, and their three daughters. But his life changes drastically when he stumbles upon a photograph of Nastasya Filippovna. Deeply infatuated, Myshkin becomes entangled in a love triangle that spirals into blackmail, betrayal, and murder.

Dostoevsky portrays the Russian “Holy Fool” as a truly beautiful soul, exploring how innocence and goodness navigate a corrupt world.

Buy here: The Idiot

And this is a wrap on our list. We hope these ten classics have done exactly what they were meant to: wrecked you, softened you, and left an imprint on your heart in the most beautiful ways imaginable. These stories remind us that heartbreak can be tender, that pain can carry wisdom, and that even the deepest sadness can open us to empathy, understanding, and love.

As we mentioned earlier, we intend to move and heal, not to harm. So make sure to accompany these reads with your favourite cuppa, moments of pause to let the words sink in, and a quiet space to feel, reflect, and breathe. Let yourself be carried by the stories, let them linger in your thoughts, and allow the ache they leave behind to remind you of the fragile, remarkable beauty of the human heart.

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