Book cover of My Heart & Other Breakables: How I lost my mum, found my dad, and made friends with catastrophe

Book description

The hilarious and deeply moving diary novel from bestselling author Alex Barclay - this might just be the funniest book ever to make you cry your eyes out.

This is the diary of me, Ellery Brown, aged fifteen and a half. I'm supposed to use it to record my feelings…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked My Heart & Other Breakables as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I’m a sucker for tongue-in-cheek humour, the sort of dry, straight-faced joke that is so skilfully woven into a narrative or a character’s personality that you’re almost not sure if it was meant to be funny.

Alex Barclay has that skill in truckloads, and uses it to tremendous effect in this book. It’s a ripping yarn about a young girl on the search for her dad – except, it’s about a lot more than that.

It embraces the absurd and the vividly real in equal measure, all told through the eyes of a beautifully-crafted main character.

I can’t think of…

If you love My Heart & Other Breakables...

Book cover of Jane Addams: The Most Dangerous Woman in America

Jane Addams by Marlene Targ Brill,

This biography for middle-grade readers and up explains who Jane Addams was and why she caused such a stir worldwide. The story follows Addams' first childhood realization of how poverty limits lives, livelihoods, and health to her becoming one of the most beloved―and disliked―women of her day. She worked to…

Want books like My Heart & Other Breakables?

Our community of 13,000+ authors has personally recommended 65 books like My Heart & Other Breakables.

Browse books like My Heart & Other Breakables

Book cover of Benny and Omar
Book cover of The Great Irish Politics Book
Book cover of The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, or John Howland's Good Fortune

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,395

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like My Heart & Other Breakables, you might also like...

Book cover of On the Horizon

On the Horizon by Lois Lowry,

Lois Lowry looks back at history through a personal lens as she draws from her own memories as a child in Hawaii and Japan, as well as from historical research, in this stunning work in verse for young readers.

On the Horizon tells the story of people whose lives were…

Book cover of A School for Unusual Girls

A School for Unusual Girls by Kathleen Baldwin,

A spy school for girls amidst Jane Austen’s high society.

Daughters of the Beau Monde who don’t fit London society’s strict mold are banished to Stranje House, where the headmistress trains these unusually gifted girls to enter the dangerous world of spies in the Napoleonic wars. #1 NYT bestselling author…

5 book lists we think you will like!