Here are 100 books that All My Tomorrows fans have personally recommended if you like
All My Tomorrows.
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I am a Pulitzer-nominated writer who began as a poet, then shifted to prose during a period of aesthetic and personal crisis in my life. I am interested in how the novelist can gather and curate fascinating facts for the reader and incorporate them into the text. I see writing as a great adventure and investigation into issues of empathy, power, and powerlessness, and the individual in an increasingly technological world.
When I wrote my first novel, I began investigating modern-day technology—robotics, bioengineering, AI, and information technology—and have read and worked in this area for over 15 years. It is a pleasure to share some of the books that have informed my own journey.
I love the exquisite writing and haunting narrative in this book—Ishiguro’s prose is masterful, his imagination precise and engrossing. He creates characters that are poignant, complex, and caught in a world beyond their control. Issues of bioengineering, of empathy, of powerlessness, are beautifully woven through the whole.
I am moved by how this book marries technology and deep emotion, the dystopian with the palpable reality of today’s world, and the rapidly changing technological milieu we live in.
One of the most acclaimed novels of the 21st Century, from the Nobel Prize-winning author
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize
Kazuo Ishiguro imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewed version of contemporary England. Narrated by Kathy, now thirty-one, Never Let Me Go dramatises her attempts to come to terms with her childhood at the seemingly idyllic Hailsham School and with the fate that has always awaited her and her closest friends in the wider world. A story of love, friendship and memory, Never Let Me Go is charged throughout with a sense…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I’ve spent over three decades as a therapist and professor, with ethics at the heart of everything I do. Many clients come to therapy feeling at odds with their moral compass, and I’m passionate about helping them navigate those gray areas with compassion and clarity. As a professor, I live what I teach—engaging in real-world ethical decision-making, mentoring new professionals, and writing books that bring complex concepts to life. I love books that challenge us to think deeply, sit with ambiguity, and reconnect with our moral center. This list reflects that journey—these are the books that stay with you long after the last page.
I’ll admit it—Jodi Picoult gets me in the feels every single time. But this was the one that hooked me. I thought I knew what I’d do if faced with the choice to conceive a child to save another. Simple, right? You save your kid.
But this story unraveled all my assumptions. It made me pause and really consider the perspective of the child conceived for a purpose. Then it threw the whole family into court—and suddenly, I was questioning everything again. I found myself discovering new values I didn’t even know I held.
Sara and Brian Fitzgerald's life with their young son and their two-year-old daughter, Kate, is forever altered when they learn that Kate has leukemia. The parents' only hope is to conceive another child, specifically intended to save Kate's life. For some, such genetic engineering would raise both moral and ethical questions; for the Fitzgeralds, Sara in particular, there is no choice but to do whatever it takes to keep Kate alive. And what it takes is Anna. Kate (Sofia Vassilieva) and Anna (Abigail Breslin) share a bond closer than most sisters: though Kate is older, she relies on her little…
I am both a psychologist and a novelist, with each of my professions influencing and shaping the other. Not surprisingly, I am fascinated by people- how they tick, why they do what they do- and am particularly interested in how people behave at times of medical and/or psychological crisis. The topic of organ donation had always interested me in this aspect, but particularly so after the tragic death of my brother at only 39. When the recipient of one of his kidneys reached out to my family three years later we were grateful and gratified… and the idea forI’ll Leave You With This was ignited.
Long-listed for the Man Booker International Prize in 2016, this French novel focuses on the 24 hours following the death of teenage Simon in a car accident and the subsequent transplantation of his heart to a terminally-ill young woman.
I loved that this story was told from the points of view of all involved: Simon’s grieving family and girlfriend, the doctor who must pronounce him dead, the transplant co-ordinator dealing with both families involved, the recipient ecstatic at her good fortune, but knowing that it comes at the cost of untold grief elsewhere.
Moving, informative, evocative, and terribly – perhaps ironically – heart-breaking.
The basis for the critically-acclaimed film, Heal the Living, directed by Katell Quillévéré and starring Tahar Rahim and Emmanuelle Seigner
Albertine Prize Finalist
Winner of the Wellcome Book Prize and the French-American Foundation Translation Prize
Just before dawn on a Sunday morning, three teenage boys go surfing. While driving home exhausted, the boys are involved in a fatal car accident on a deserted road. Two of the boys are wearing seat belts; one goes through the windshield. The doctors declare him brain-dead shortly after arriving at the hospital, but his heart is…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
I am both a psychologist and a novelist, with each of my professions influencing and shaping the other. Not surprisingly, I am fascinated by people- how they tick, why they do what they do- and am particularly interested in how people behave at times of medical and/or psychological crisis. The topic of organ donation had always interested me in this aspect, but particularly so after the tragic death of my brother at only 39. When the recipient of one of his kidneys reached out to my family three years later we were grateful and gratified… and the idea forI’ll Leave You With This was ignited.
I adored this Young Adult novel, which follows 17-year-old Marlowe adjusting to life – adjusting the fact that she will, indeed, have a life – following a heart transplant.
Born with a congenital defect, Marlowe has spent many years preparing to die; now she must learn how to live, including returning to school, negotiating friendships and romance, and visualising a future for herself. I was particularly moved by Marlowe’s efforts to find the family of her donor, who in turn want nothing to do with her.
Happy endings can be messy too, and this short, sweet novel encompasses a huge gamut of emotions.
Bestselling author of All the Bright Places Jennifer Niven calls emerging talent Shivaun Plozza’s charming and romantic second YA novel, Tin Heart, “from cover to cover swoon-worthy, moving, deep, and funny”!
When Marlowe gets a heart transplant and a second chance at life, all she wants to do is to thank her donor’s family. Maybe then she can move on. Maybe then she’ll discover who she is if she’s no longer The Dying Girl.
But with a little brother who dresses like every day is Halloween, a vegan warrior for a mother, and an all-out war with the hot butcher’s…
Researching the storylines for my family drama novels gives me the opportunity to speak to many different people about huge events and dilemmas in their families and lives. Through their honesty and generosity, I have gained a huge respect for the way in which people can cope with tragedy and also a fascination with how they deal with it. For me, reading – and writing – about these topics is immensely cathartic and makes me remember to grasp life with both hands. I’m a sucker for a happy ending, though, so I always look for the hope at the end of any story.
As I come from a small family, I am always fascinated by families with lots of siblings and the dynamics between them.
In I’ll Leave You With This, Kylie Ladd gives us four very different sisters grieving the loss of their only brother. Each of their voices was very distinct and made me think about how we all have our ‘role’ in the family. Do eldest daughters always take control? Do youngest siblings always feel overlooked?
As they find their way towards each other and through a way to navigate their tragic loss, they all pulled at my heartstrings in different ways.
A totally heartbreaking but uplifting story about family, loss and second chances.
Three years after Daniel was killed by a senseless act of violence, all his sisters have left of him are their memories - and responsibility for Daniel's mischievous dachshund John Thomas. Daniel donated his organs, his death facilitating life-saving miracles for other families, while his own loved ones struggle to come to terms with their devastating loss, each at a crossroads of her own.
It's been twelve years since film director Bridie had a hit, and while she's still invited to glitzy media events, nowadays it is as…
I am an anatomy educator and doctoral researcher looking at the use of human material in anatomy education. My historical research into the antics of body suppliers has caused me to explore many publications on what we do with the remains of our relatives. This is a subject that can be fascinating but also requires compassionate handling and sometimes asks us questions that we often do not want to ponder.
Right up to date with a book written by an
anatomist detailing how cadavers are used in a modern teaching facility in the
UK. In an unusual break from the silence
that usually surrounds the use of human cadavers, Dr. Smith talks us through the
whole process from donation to disposal and the assistance they provide to
medical teaching.
One single body donation could affect the lives of around ten million patients. Body donation is an amazing gift which enables doctors and healthcare professionals to understand the human body. Surgeons can refine existing surgical skills and develop new procedures to create better treatment for you. Dr Claire Smith goes through every aspect of donating a body, clearly describing what happens to a body once it has been donated, how it is used, how bodies are reassembled and then placed in coffins before cremation.
This is the fascinating journey into the untold story of the Silent Teacher.
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
I'm a journalist and a historian who writes about how American evangelicals are complicated. I was trying to explain Left Behind in graduate school and I talked and talked about the theology in the book—all about the doctrines of the rapture, the antichrist, and the millennium. Then my professor said, “But it’s fiction, right? Why is it fiction? What are people doing when they read a novel instead, of say, a theological treatise?” I had no idea. But it seemed like a good question. That was the spark of Reading Evangelicals. But first, I had to read everything I could find about how readers read and what happens when they do.
I’m cheating a little here, but I made the rules and there’s a little clause in the rules I made that says I can break them as long as I announce that I am breaking them. Herewith, I announce.
This isn’t a book about readers. It’s a book about watchers—specifically the Dutch audience for the soap opera Dallas. But this book is so good and so wild, it changed forever the way I think about “reception,” including reading. I recommend this book all the time and if you want to understand the freedom and creativity of readers, you have to read it.
Dallas, one of the great internationally-screened soap operas, offers us first and foremost entertainment. But what is it about Dallas that makes that entertainment so successful, and how exactly is its entertainment constructed?
Before becoming a psychological thriller writer I trained as a Clinical Psychologist, and I continue to practice as a therapist alongside my writing. Clinical Psychologists work in the field of mental health, bringing me into regular contact with the more difficult, distressed, or disturbed aspects of human psychology. Similarly, my novels typically explore the darker sides of what it means to be human, including themes of guilt, loss, fractured relationships, and trauma. The books on my list delve into this compelling and fascinating territory, and have inspired me as both a psychologist and a storyteller.
Firstly, I absolutely love that this book is presented in the form of a podcast!
Maybe it’s just me, but epistolary novels always makes me feel the story is more “real”! I love how Wesolowski cleverly blurs the lines between madness, evil, and the paranormal, asking whether “monsters” really exist or are simply manifestations of our human selves.
This resonates so much with me as a clinical psychologist, because mental illness have been demonised and “monstered” throughout history, and I am always working to educate and defeat stereotypes and stigma.
Online investigative journalist Scott King investigates the death of a pop megastar, the subject of multiple accusations of sexual abuse and murder before his untimely demise in a fire ... another episode of the startlingly original, award-winning Six Stories series.
'A captivating, genre-defying book with hypnotic storytelling' Rosamund Lupton
'A chilling, wholly original and quite brilliant story. Deity is utterly compelling, and Matt Wesolowski is a wonderful writer' Chris Whitaker
'Matt Wesolowski taking the crime novel to places it's never been before. Filled with dread, in the best possible way' Joseph Knox
The first day of my career began with 1,000 people being laid off citing “post-merger efficiencies.” I was the young whippersnapper walking in as many more were walking out, boxes in hand. I saw, firsthand, the impact of uncertainty, lack of clear and transparent communications, and leadership, not just on performance, but also on the health and well-being of the colleagues around me. In that first job I became fascinated and obsessed with how work can be something we enjoy and find meaning in. Since then, I’ve devoted my career to making work more inspiring, engaging, and fulfilling. This became my passion and cause because I felt the very opposite.
As we learn in another classic, Primed to Perform by Doshi and McGregor, play is the most motivating activity there is.
I read this book for the first time during a dark period early in my career – where I did not feel inspired, engagement nor fulfilled. This book provided me with the framework to find meaningful activities – those where I was both skilled yet challenged to improve. Those activities where I would lose myself – where time would stand still.
Better yet, this book, framework, and philosophy have better helped me coach others to find play, engagement, and meaning in their activities at work and in life.
Part psychological study, part self-help book, Finding Flow is a prescriptive guide that helps us reclaim ownership of our lives. Based on a far-reaching study of thousands of individuals, Finding Flow contends that we often walk through our days unaware and out of touch with our emotional lives. Our inattention makes us constantly bounce between two extremes: during much of the day we live filled with the anxiety and pressures of our work and obligations, while during our leisure moments, we tend to live in passive boredom. The key, according to Csikszentmihalyi, is to challenge ourselves with tasks requiring a…
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the book…
Over a long lifetime, I’ve been intrigued to observe many variations on the themes of marriage, widowhood, divorce, and adultery among my friends, patients, and clients. The majority of marriages are probably happy, but these are not usually very interesting to write about, so marriages in fiction often involve some kind of conflict which leads to a more or less satisfactory resolution. I am a retired doctor, originally from England, and now living in New Zealand with my second husband, to whom I have been married for over 40 years.
I loved the television play based on this novel, and the novel itself is equally good as a sensitive but somewhat mordant commentary on marriage, widowerhood, wartime memories, and the English class system.
I found it amusing in parts but also quite sad, and empathized with both main characters—two men who had served in WW2 as squadron leader and sergeant, respectively. They meet fifty years later in the Tonbridge Wells hospital when both their wives are dying, and develop an unlikely friendship.
First published in 1992, A Rather English Marriage tells of Roy Southgate and Reginald Conynghame-Jervi, who have nothing in common but their loneliness and their wartime memories.
Roy, a retired milkman and Reggie, a former RAF Squadron Leader, are widowed on the same day. To assuage their grief, the vicar arranges for Roy to move in with Reggie as his unpaid manservant. To their surprise, they form a strange alliance, based on obedience, need and the strangeness of single life. Then Reggie meets Liz, a vibrant but near-bankrupt woman of irresistible appeal, while Roy and his son's family grow gradually…
