At its best literature captures all human emotions, from pure joy to the lowest, saddest moments. Sad books resonate in our memories and we've selected the most tearjerking moments in literature

The 20 greatest books that are guaranteed to make you cry

One Day - David Nicholls (2009)

Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks (1993)

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini (2007)

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (1847)

The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (2002)

After You'd Gone - Maggie O'Farrell (2000)

The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (2003)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling (2007)

To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee (1960)

One Hundred Years Of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1967)

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (2006)

Half Of A Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2006)

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (1963)

Billy - Albert French (1993)

Atonement - Ian McEwan (2001)

Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (1936)

The Fault In Our Stars - John Green (2012)

The Voluptuous Delights Of Peanut Butter And Jam - Lauren Liebenberg (2008)

The Old Curiosity Shop - Charles Dickens (1843)

The Outcast - Sadie Jones (2008)