Recommended reading
Recommended reading: Books that stay with you
Sometimes, a book lands in your hands at just the right moment and offers a language for something you have felt but never named, or reminding you that you are not alone. Below are some of the books I often return to, each one offering something thoughtful, healing, or quietly powerful.
Perhaps one of these may resonate with you…
The Motherhood Complex by Melissa Hogenboom
An honest look at the psychological shifts of becoming a mother. Hogenboom explores how identity, ambition, and emotional life evolve with motherhood.
Helpful if you feel pulled in different directions as a mother, or are trying to rediscover who you are alongside parenting.
Emotional Inheritance by Galit Atlas
A beautifully written exploration of how the pain, silence, and unresolved trauma of past generations can be passed down emotionally.
Helpful if you sense you are carrying feelings that are not fully your own, or want to understand how family history shapes emotional life.
Unmasked by Ellie Middleton
A clear and personal account of late discovered neurodivergence, particularly ADHD and autism.
Helpful if you have ever felt different, misunderstood, or are exploring a diagnosis later in life, especially as a woman or marginalised person.
And How Does That Make You Feel? by Joshua Fletcher
A warm and honest book that gives insight into what therapy is really like, written by a therapist who has experienced anxiety himself.
Helpful if you are thinking about starting therapy and want a reassuring, realistic idea of what to expect.
Love’s Executioner by Irvin D. Yalom
Ten powerful therapy case stories written by an existential psychotherapist. Each story explores the very human struggles we all face.
Helpful if you are curious about the therapy process or want to see how deep, vulnerable work can unfold in the therapy room.
When the Body Says No by Gabor Maté
Explores the hidden connections between emotional stress and physical illness, arguing that unexpressed emotions can show up in the body.
Helpful if you are starting to wonder whether past stress or suppressed feelings might be affecting your health.
Lost Connections by Johann Hari
Challenges the common view of depression and anxiety as purely chemical, and explores how disconnection from meaning and belonging plays a role.
Helpful if you are feeling low or stuck and want to explore different ways of understanding and responding to emotional pain.
Wintering by Katherine May
A gentle, poetic reflection on the quieter seasons of life, and how we can learn to embrace rest, stillness, and retreat.
Helpful if you are going through a difficult or slow season and need permission to step back, soften, and take care of yourself.
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
A landmark book on how trauma is stored in the body and brain, and how healing requires more than just talking.
Helpful if you have experienced trauma, or feel overwhelmed in ways that do not always make sense, and want to understand your body’s role in healing.
Scattered Minds by Gabor Maté
A compassionate, in depth look at ADHD, particularly how it can affect self esteem, relationships, and emotional regulation.
Helpful if you are wondering whether you or someone you love might have ADHD, and want a more human and less medicalised understanding.
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
Explores how smartphones and social media have changed childhood and adolescence, and how this links to rising anxiety and depression.
Helpful if you are a parent, educator, or therapist concerned about the emotional wellbeing of young people in a digital world.
Let the right book find you…
There is no “should” with reading. Let curiosity guide you. And if one of these books stirs something in you that you want to talk about, therapy can be a space to explore it more deeply.