Divorce is the process of dissolving a marriage. As per CDC, 2.3 persons per thousand population get divorced in the United States. Divorce comes with a lot of challenges such as legal, financial, parental, and emotional challenges. Many people may face depression, loneliness and isolation, self-esteem difficulties, or other psychological distress during or after divorce. It may take months or even years to regain mental and emotional stability. Below we are sharing the list of 17 best divorce books that can help you in the process of divorce and heal from the trauma of divorce.
The List of 17 Best Divorce Books
Below you will find the list of 17 best divorce books that will help you in different stages of the divorce process. These books answer all the important questions related to divorces such as legal and emotional challenges, spiritual aspects of divorce, financial decisions before divorce, overcoming stress and negative emotions, child custody, co-parenting, and many more.
1. Divorce Poison: How to Protect Your Family from Bad-mouthing and Brainwashing By Dr. Richard A Warshak
Your ex-spouse might be badmouthing you and brainwashing your children to turn them against you after divorce. This can lead them to lose respect and affection for you, and also cut all contact with you. In this situation, the conventional advice is to do nothing. This book states that this approach is wrong and suggests a blueprint for an effective response. You will be able to distinguish different types of criticism, understand the reasons for manipulation, detect different maneuvres, and recognize the damages they do to the children. This book offers powerful strategies to preserve and rebuild loving relationships with your children, and practical advice from experts to safeguard your children and enable them to love and respect you.
2. Divorce Care: Hope, Help, and Healing During and After Your Divorce By Steve Grissom
This book provides joy, strength, and healing to people who are going through separation or divorce. You may feel rejected, betrayed, and exhausted after divorce. No one might understand the depth of your pain or the complexity of the challenges you face. This book offers courage and inspiration from some of today’s most respected and well-known Christian leaders and psychologists, and real stories from men and women who have come through the darkness of separation and divorce and now living life with God’s love and healing. This 365-day devotional has daily readings and heartfelt prayers that will empower you. The divorce process can act as a powerful catalyst to bring transformation in your life.
3. Conscious Uncoupling: 5 Steps to Living Happily Even After By Katherine Woodward Thomas
Break up or divorce does not always have to come with bitterness, anger, shame, and resentment. This process can be completed with goodwill, generosity, and respect. This book offers a tried-and-true method of ending old relationships with the possibility of creating a new healthier and happier one. It will teach you how to conduct difficult conversations, clear up toxic emotions, and make society accept and adjust to the new relationship. You will find valuable skills and tools that can help you navigate difficult situations and heal your heartbreak.
4. The Mindful Divorce: How To Heal And Be Happy After Separation By James Brien
Divorce and separation always come with hurts. But you can take care of the situation by developing your confidence and increasing your self-worth. This book is full of techniques that help you reduce your stress level, build your confidence and mental peace, eliminate negative emotions, understand your values and motivations in life, and empower yourself for a brighter future. Once you take control of your situation, you can lead a healthy and happy life thereafter.
5. Living Unbroken: Reclaiming Your Life and Your Heart after Divorce By Tracie Miles
This book dives deeper into understanding the emotional tolls divorce and separation bring to a woman. Tracie Miles walked herself through this path, and now she empowers other women through this book. The book provides much-needed hope, encouragement, and practical guidance for living the best life even after divorce/separation. It teaches the biblical approach to trust in God’s promise and the way to improve self-confidence and hope for a better future.
6. Crazy Time: Surviving Divorce and Building a New Life, Third Edition By Abigail Trafford
It is difficult to cope with the loss and failure resulting from divorce and deal with the uncertainty of the future. The book identifies different phases of evolution from marriage to separation to divorce and starting a new life. It helps you better understand your experiences and weather the turmoil of divorce. The book also reveals the telltale signs of a troubled marriage and whether a relationship will survive in the long run. It discusses the personal and economic effects of divorce on adults and children’s lives and provides solutions to challenging situations and hope and confidence for a better life ahead.
7. Creative Interventions for Children of Divorce By Liana Lowenstein
Divorce is particularly tough for children as they have to deal with parental conflict, transitioning between two homes, overwhelming and confused feelings, and a number of other challenges. Often they can not express their feelings and talk about divorce and other such issues. This book offers the most innovative tools such as therapeutic games, art, puppets, and stories that help children express their thoughts, and learn ways to cope.
8. I Don’t Want a Divorce: A 90 Day Guide to Saving Your Marriage By Dr. David Clarke
Couples can turn their bad marriages into good ones. They can do it in just 90 days even if only one partner is committed to change. Couples on the brink of divorce are normally reluctant to see therapists. In this book, David Clarke shares his practical plan and personalized approach to turning difficult marriages into great ones. This book helps resolve communication issues, negative attitudes, or even serious sins, and shows the road to a great marriage.
9. Divorce: Think Financially, Not Emotionally® Volume I: What Women Need To Know About Securing Their Financial Future Before, During, and After Divorce By Jeffrey A. Landers
Thinking financially is not always easy especially when someone is going through the emotional roller coaster of divorce. But the financial decisions you make before and during divorce will impact the rest of your life. This book will teach you how to shore up your financial position, build a top-notch divorce team, negotiate alimony, know if your husband is hiding assets, protect your business, intellectual property, and personal assets, deal with pensions plans, 401Ks, and other retirement accounts;. . . and much more. It helps establish long-term financial security for you and your children as well.
10. The Divorce Recovery Workbook: How to Heal from Anger, Hurt, and Resentment and Build the Life You Want By Mark S. Rye PhD
If you have gone through a divorce recently, chances are that you are still fighting with unresolved feelings such as anger, hurt, etc. Even you might be feeling stressed and sometimes depressed due to the emotional and legal ramifications of divorce. This book teaches you how to use mindfulness and positive psychology to overcome negative emotions, and how to forgive and move on to build new loving relationships. It also contains helpful exercises and tips to manage a difficult co-parenting relationship. Using this book, you can make your life stronger and happier even after divorce.
11. Divorce Is Not the End of the World: Zoe’s and Evan’s Coping Guide for Kids By Zoe Stern
The authors, Zoe and Evan Stern have firsthand experience of divorce as their parents split when they were kids. In this book, they, with the help of their mom, share with divorce kids topics such as guilt, anger, fear, adjusting to different rules in different houses, dealing with special occasions like birthdays, adapting to stepparents and blended families, and much more. The book explains how with the right support kids of divorce can grow stronger and become able to navigate life’s storms.
12. Nolo’s Essential Guide to Divorce By Emily Doskow Attorney
This book will make the divorce process easy by providing you with the right information. It will reduce the pain by minimizing conflict between spouses, making the process simple and effective. It discusses topics such as child support and custody, alimony, property division, and
drafting a marital settlement agreement. The book will also help you stay calm and make good decisions during the divorce process.
13. The Good Divorce By Constance Ahrons
In more than fifty percent of divorce cases, couples end their marriages but preserve their families. They still need to take of their children spanning two households. The initial stages of divorce can be terrifying. This book eases the process of transition and dispels the myth that children of divorce are always emotionally troubled. It shows the ways to reconfirm our commitment to families and children.
14. Something Gained: 7 Shifts to Be Stronger, Smarter & Happier After Divorce By Deb Purdy
The trauma of divorces such as feelings of shame, anger, and regret can last for months and even years. This book helps you transform the negative emotions of divorce into a positive, life-changing experience. It offers ways to embrace the gifts and lessons of your divorce, peacefully co-exist with your ex-spouse, and support your children to heal and thrive. The book helps you change your view of divorce and become stronger, happier, and more peaceful.
15. The Life-Saving Divorce: Hope for People Leaving Destructive Relationships Paperback By Gretchen Baskerville
If you are in a destructive marriage, there are four key Bible verses that support divorce in cases of emotional, physical, or verbal abuse, infidelity, and neglect. Divorce is acceptable to save your life and sanity. This book describes how to know whether to stay or go, twenty-seven myths about divorce, dealing with friends and family who disapprove of divorce, finding safe friends and churches, and why divorce can be the best for children. There is still hope for you, your faith, and your children even after divorce.
16. The Empowered Woman’s Guide to Divorce: A Therapist and a Lawyer Guide You Through Your Divorce Journey By Jill Murray PsyD
This book helps you make intelligent and well throughout decisions during the divorce process. It helps you navigate the legal and emotional steps of divorce and the challenges that may arise after a divorce. The book includes topics such as the seven legal rules of divorce, obstacles in the courtroom, ways to help your children cope with the new reality, custody and visitation rights, healthy co-parenting, and many more. It answers all the questions about divorce that you didn’t know you had.
17. Splitting: Protecting Yourself While Divorcing Someone with Borderline or Narcissistic Personality Disorder
You need this book if you are in the process of divorcing a high-conflict person who is a persuasive blamer and suffers from borderline personality disorder (BPD), narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), and/or antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). These people will make the divorce process as difficult as possible. The book includes topics such as antisocial personalities, domestic violence, child abuse, alienation, false allegations, child custody disputes, and many more. It provides all the critical information you need to deal with high conflict divorce from a manipulative spouse.
You may also read: The 23 Best Books on Domestic Violence
Conclusion
So we have provided our list of the 17 best divorce books that can offer much-needed hope, courage, and guidance for dealing with the divorce process. These books address the challenges you and your children may face before or after divorce. You will also find ways to overcome the mental, legal, and emotional difficulties of divorce and the roadmap for making both your and your children’s life healthier and happier even after divorce.