Here to Help: Separation and Divorce

For life’s big and small moments Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh staff have created Here to Help booklists. Here to Help booklists provide information and support in navigating life experiences. Librarians at your neighborhood library are here to help too and can offer suggestions for these or other topics of interest, as well as community information and resources. Through these booklists you can create opportunities to find connection, solace, comfort, or information for action. 

The books in this list provide information and resources for adults about separation and divorce  

Not every book is available at all locations, but any title can be requested. Feel free to suggest some titles to us. New books are always being added to the collection.  


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If you’re looking for more book suggestions, we’re happy to recommend them to you! Use this Book Recommendation form to send us some information about what you like to read and we’ll curate a list just for you.    

If you have any additional questions, you can contact a librarian through FacebookInstagram or XYou can also call us at 412-622-3114 or email us at info@carnegielibrary.org 

Better Than Okay: Finding Hope and Healing After Your Marriage Ends

Some seasons of life can seem inordinately more difficult than one human should ever have to endure. For Brandi Wilson, this was the year when her husband of more than 20 years—and a megachurch pastor—walked away from her and her family, her church community dissolved, and her dreams and identity were shattered. You can also check out this title as always availableeBook or eAudio on Hoopla. 


Blend: the Secret to Co-Parenting and Creating a Balanced Family

A wise and inspiring guide to creating a happy and healthy blended family by Mashonda Tifrere with contributions from her co-parents–Swizz Beatz and his wife, Grammy-Award winning singer and songwriter Alicia Keys. You can also check out this title as an eBook on Libby. 


Building a Parenting Agreement that Works

Building a Parenting Agreement That Works presents a step-by-step method for overcoming the obstacles and putting together a parenting agreement during and after a divorce that everyone—especially children—can live with.


Divorce & Money: Make the Best Financial Decisions During Divorce

All the information you need to split your assets, easily and fairly. Major financial decisions are often overwhelming, but they can feel downright impossible when you’re in the midst of a divorce. Turn to Divorce & Money , the acclaimed guide that translates complex financial concepts into plain language.


Divorce After 50: Your Guide to the Unique Legal & Financial Challenges

Divorce can be devastating at any time, but the emotional and financial challenges are even greater for those who divorce later in life, with complicated issues of blended families, health care concerns, and retirement planning. Attorney Janice Green brings over 40 years of experience as a divorce lawyer, and in particular, her skill in counseling clients over 50.


Divorce Without Court: a Guide to Mediation & Collaborative Divorce

This book guides the reader through all the steps of negotiating a divorce settlement, using mediation or collaborative law. It explains mediation and collaborative divorce and shows you how to choose the right method for your family; maximize opportunities for settlement; get an agreement in writing; find mediators, attorneys, and advisers, and protect your children first, last, and always.


Getting to Good Riddance: a No-Bullsh*t Breakup Survival Guide

Psychologist Jodie Eckleberry-Hunt, author of Move on Motherf*cker, provides the tools to survive and thrive after a breakup in this empowering, BS-free guide. This seriously motivational guide mixes salty straight talk, humor, cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and positivity to lead you to growth and recovery. You can also check out this title as always availableeBook or eAudio on Hoopla. 


Heartsick: Three Stories About Love, Pain, and What Happens in Between

Weaving together these three true stories, Jessie Stephens captures the painful but wholeheartedly universal experience of heartbreak. Deeply relatable, addictive to the very last page, and powerfully human, Heartsick reminds us that emotional pain can make us as it breaks us and that storytelling has the ultimate healing power. You can also check out this title as always available eAudio on Hoopla. 


The No-Nonsense Guide to Divorce: Getting Through and Starting Over

Written by an experienced family lawyer, it’s a blunt, funny, empathetic look at one of the most challenging times in life. Filled with concrete advice and hilarious and sometimes cringe-worthy examples, it’s the perfect blend of how-to and what-not-to-do. You can also check out this title as always available eAudio on Hoopla. 


Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce

Divorce is never easy, but with the information in Nolo’s Essential Guide to Divorce , you can make the process as simple, inexpensive, and conflict-free as possible. With compassion and expertise, family law attorney Emily Doskow explains how to make divorce less painful.


The Parent's Guide to Birdnesting: a Child-Centered Solution to Co-Parenting During Separation and Divorce

For parents who are separating and want to put their children first, birdnesting could be the interim custody solution you’ve been looking for. Instead of the children splitting their time being shuttled between mom and dad’s separate homes, birdnesting allows the children to stay in the “nest” and instead, requires mom and dad to swap, allowing each parent to stay elsewhere when not with the children.



Untangling Your Marriage: a Guide to Collaborative Divorce

This book is a myth buster, and an antidote to the negative messaging about divorce. It offers hope and encouragement for the reader to choose a divorce process that aligns with their own core values. Values such as dignity, mutual respect, integrity, and compassion. It offers the reader an introduction to Collaborative Divorce, both the mindset and the process, as it has been established and practiced for the past thirty years. You can also check out this title as always available eAudio on Hoopla. 


The World's Best Dad After Divorce: a Guide to Co-Parenting for Divorced Dads

Packed with advice from family counseling experts, anecdotes from divorced parent groups, interviews with fathers, mothers, and children, and the author’s own first-hand experiences, The World’s Best Dad During and After Divorce is a realistic, yet compassionate approach to parenting during and after divorce.


Moms Moving On: Real Life Advice for Conquering Divorce, Co-Parenting Through Conflict, and Becoming Your Best Self

Popular divorce coach Michelle Dempsey-Multack not only survived her own divorce but figured out how to move on with her life, just like you will, too. Now happily remarried with a blended family, she’s living proof that no matter which “firsts” you might be experiencing as you end your marriage, and no matter how long you stayed with someone who didn’t meet your needs, your best days are ahead.