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March is endometriosis awareness month which is something I want to share more awareness about. As someone with suspected endometriosis, I like it when a fiction book has a character/plot with endometriosis. I have read a few and thought I would share them (+ others). This post will include endometriosis fiction books that I have read and some that I haven’t read yet. Last year I shared what I wish people knew about endometriosis, so I would love if you would give that a read too.
What is endometriosis?
Endometriosis is a chronic illness where cells similar to the ones lining the uterus are found in other places of the body. The cells in a uterus shed during a period, but these cells have nowhere to leave and so build up which causes inflammation, pain and scar tissue formation. It is a long-term condition, that can affect anyone born female of any age. It impacts around 1.5 million in the UK, which is 1 in 10 people.
I wrote a guest post on Chronically Alex Jean on 13 tips for living with endometriosis.
4 endometriosis fiction books
Please Read This Leaflet Carefully by Karen Havelin
I originally bought this book from World of Books after seeing it mentioned online and I would recommend you read it too. The book is told in reverse which I might not normally go for, but it was definitely interesting and I enjoyed the book.
Goodreads synopsis:
Please Read This Leaflet Carefully, the debut novel from Norwegian writer and translator Karen Havelin, is the story of a woman whose body has become her enemy.
The novel tracks backwards, from 2016 until 1995, etching details of daily life into a gripping and darkly humorous bildungsroman, about the intricacies of love and life in a fragile body.
We meet Laura Fjellstad first as she works and cares for her young daughter while struggling with debilitating pain and endometriosis, an invisible chronic illness.
As the reader moves in reverse to meet Laura’s younger and somewhat healthier selves (a hopeful bride in New York, a baby queer in Paris, a figure skater in Norway) we uncover her tireless work to gain control of her identity, her illness and the conflicting demands made by doctors, friends, lovers and family.
Man Booker Prize-winning author Paul Beatty says most books about disease try to describe the pain; told in poetic whisper, Karen Havelin’s debut novel lets pain speak for itself. It’s a book that dares you to be nosy, to eavesdrop and listen in to a stoic young woman whom no one noticed until she began to disappear, her body disintegrating from the inside out until there’s nothing left but searing agony and almost impossibly―a burning triumph.
Jarringly funny and perceptive; an intimate reckoning with the inner demons and precarity of everyday life, unpacked through the very specific lens of a woman with chronic pain.
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
To be totally honest, I don’t really like Sally Rooney’s writing style and found the book hard to read. However, as one of the characters has endometriosis I wanted to include it in this list. I thought that Sally Rooney did capture endometriosis well.
Storygraph synopsis:
Frances is twenty-one years old, cool-headed and observant. A student in Dublin and an aspiring writer, at night she performs spoken word with her best friend Bobbi, who used to be her girlfriend. When they are interviewed and then befriended by Melissa, a well-known journalist who is married to Nick, an actor, they enter a world of beautiful houses, raucous dinner parties and holidays in Provence, beginning a complex ménage-à-quatre. But when Frances and Nick get unexpectedly closer, the sharply witty and emotion-averse Frances is forced to honestly confront her own vulnerabilities for the first time.
Waterstones* | Bookshop* | Blackwells* | World of Books
Continue reading: 4 endometriosis fiction books you should read
The Irish Fall by Brooke Gilbert
Full disclaimer, I was given an advanced reader’s copy (ARC) from NetGallery after the author approached me.
I was looking forward to reading this book and really enjoyed it. I loved reading about the beautiful scenery of Ireland whilst delving into these two characters. Not only did the book feature their love story, but another relationship blossomed! It was so refreshing to read about chronic illness and mental health, which is something that I have read little to nothing about from healthcare professionals. To read it in a book, especially a romance book was comforting – if that makes sense!
Storygraph synopsis:
Eyre doesn’t realize when she buys a ticket to Ireland on a desperate whim that she’s really buying a ticket to her heart.
Eyre decides she’s had enough and jumps on the first appealing flight, landing her in the heart of Ireland. As she looks out from the Cliffs of Moher, she thinks about how much her Crohn’s and Endometriosis have forced her to give up in life.
Darby, definitely not to be confused with Jane Austen’s Mr. Darcy, is a cynical and jaded Irishman who doesn’t get emotionally involved – a true grump. His bad boy persona doesn’t allow for second dates and definitely not cuddling. While giving a tour, he spots a woman dangerously close to the edge of the cliffs, and he’s drawn to her.
But everything’s about to change for both of them. Darby collects Eyre as part of his tour group and decides to show her the heart of Ireland, and in doing so, shows her how much heart she still has left in herself.
However, Darby has his own demons to face-invisible ones that he battles every day. With the help of a curmudgeonly older Irish man, a quirky border collie, and a fiery yet grandmotherly bartender, these two wounded souls start to let each other into their hearts. But is the healing power of Ireland enough to open a guarded heart? And is love enough to face the demons a scarred soul has been trying to outrun for so long?
This novel features in her “own voice” oesophagal Crohn’s, arthritic pain from Crohn’s, chronic pain, migraines, mental health and female issues. This disability representation is written by an author who also battles these disorders. Endometriosis and other mental health are represented in this novel as well.
Finding Gene Kelly by Torie Jean
I haven’t yet read Finding Gene Kelly, but I did pre-order the book back in 2022! It is so silly that I haven’t read it, but I think it’s because of how good I think it will be – if that makes sense? I’ve featured this book in so many other book blog posts, so I’m sure most of you know of this book already. I follow the author on social media, and she has since written 2 more books which also feature chronic illness.
Storygraph synopsis:
When five-year-old Evie O’Shea married her next-door neighbour in the wedding of the century, she had no idea she was swearing an oath to love the man who would grow into the bane of her existence until the end of time.
Or that she would be ushered into a large community of people with endometriosis shortly.
Now, aged twenty-six, Evie O’Shea lives in Paris, balancing precariously close to her Charlotte Lucas birthday. A burden to her parents, with no prospects and no money, Evie’s humdrum life needs a shake-up.
Enter Liam Kelly, the man Evie married at the age of five and promptly divorced at seven when he had the audacity to throw a muddy football at her while she was reading Eloise in Paris and ruined the whole darn book. Clad in a Henley and equipped with toned forearms and eye crinkles that rival Gene Kelly himself, Evie is determined to keep her ultimate temptation at a distance while she flails wildly navigating life, love, and endometriosis on the banks of the Seine.
But when a family secret is revealed weeks before her brother’s wedding, Evie seeks Liam’s help to get through the wedding with some semblance of sanity intact.
Her request? Fake date.
But making a deal with the Devil always comes with a cost, and when Liam’s conditions which include elaborate backstories and practice dates, reignite passions her disease smothered long ago, Evie has to learn to fight for her dreams and break free from her life measured in ibuprofen pills and heating pad settings. Or else risk being alive but never truly living.
Blackwells* | World of Books
Endometriosis fiction books that I haven’t read
- All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover
- The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe
- Speech and Debacles by Heather DiAngelis
Other chronic illness fiction books
I thought I would list some fiction books that don’t feature endometriosis, but do feature other chronic illnesses/them in general.
- The List That Changed My Life by Olivia Beirne – would totally recommend this book, I absolutely adored it! (Waterstones* | Blackwells* | Bookshop* | World of Books)
- Get a Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert – I’ve not yet read this, but it is on my TBR list. (Waterstones* | Bookshop* | Blackwells* | World of Books)
- Take a Moment by Nina Kaye (Waterstones* | Bookshop* | Blackwells* | World of Books)
- The Little Pieces of You and Me by Vanessa Greene (Waterstones* | Bookshop* | Blackwells* | World of Books)
- Meet Me On The Buddy Beach by Hannah Pearl (World of Books)
- Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (Waterstones* | Bookshop* | Blackwells* | World of Books)
- Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O’Neal (Waterstones* | Bookshop* | Blackwells* | World of Books)
Are there any chronic illness/endometriosis fiction books that I’ve missed?
Caroline ♡
It’s so great to see endometriosis getting a spotlight in this way. I have not read any of the books you have listed, but I will definitely be adding some to my TBR list. Thanks for sharing this and raising more awareness.
Thank you Molly x
Good knowledge sharing on endometriosis. And thank you for recommending these awesome books. All of them caught my attention. I shall check them out. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you Fadima x
It’s great how these authors have highlighted and raised awareness of endometriosis. These books sound great and I like the premises of all of them! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
Definitely x
Thanks so much for sharing this, it’s such a cruel condition that is treated terribly! Women and nonbinary people deserve better!
Totally agree
Fortunately, I don’t suffer from endometriosis, but I’ve tried to educate myself about it, in case my daughter ever suffers from it. Thank you for the recommendations, Caroline, they look very helpful x
That’s so great of you! x
What a great list! I did read Get a Life Chloe Brown and didn’t much enjoy it unfortunately. There’s a few here I’m keen to pick up, especially the first two! It’s nice to see conditions like this reflected in fiction.
Definitely!
What a wonderful list of books! It’s amazing how they touch on endometriosis, we definitely need more conversation surrounding this as it effects so many. Thank you for sharing!
I agree x
It’s great to learn more about endometriosis, and I did not know it impacted 1 in 10 people. These are great book suggestions that feature endometriosis, and I’m intrigued by Please Read This Leaflet Carefully and The Irish Fall.
Thank you, hope you enjoy if you pick them up 🙂 x
What a great post. It’s so important to have this kind of literature available that women who have endometriosis can relate to and also to create awareness and understanding in others who want to learn more. Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
I agree, thank you Andrea x
Some of these sound really interesting. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you
I love that these books include a storyline related to something that so many women go through, it is such a great way of getting the information across.
Me too!
I had no idea there was so much fiction about this subject! Thanks for profiling it.
Thank you Jodie x