Alternative Lives

A good place to start is the fiction, nonfiction, and poetry suggested in this reading list. They each explore this theme differently, so you can select what you are connecting with the most.

Yes, although it should not be viewed as a substitute for therapy. The right book can help you articulate feelings you have struggled to explain, offer reassurance that you are not alone, and provide a new perspective. Sometimes that insight is exactly what you need; at other times, it can encourage you to seek further support.

Bijal Shah, a bibliotherapist, founder of Book Therapy and The Book Therapy Method and the author of Bibliotherapy: The Healing Power of Reading (Hachette, 2024). She has spent over ten years matching readers to books for all kinds of emotional and life themes, including alternative lives.

Yes. The full Alternative Lives reading list, with my notes on each book, the covers and the personal reading tools, lives inside the Book Therapy membership. You also get the whole A to Z of Book Prescriptions, the journalling, and writing tools and reading progress tracking.

Yes. The list is deliberately diverse in order to ensure there is something for everyone, whether that's a short memoir, a poem to sit with over a cup of tea, or a novel to properly disappear into. If something feels too close to what you're going through right now, you have the option to put it down. And another book on the list might be more helpful.