Being widowed isn't something I'd heard talked about much. I'd assumed that, following a time of grieving the loss of a partner, life would just go back to the way it was, like a train coming out the other end of a long, dark tunnel. Everything - and everyone - would be there, waiting for me to emerge so we could pick up where we left off. But after losing my husband, I discovered that losing a partner was just the beginning. A string of secondary losses - loss of friends, loss of faith, a loss of identity - left me feeling lost, alone, and a little crazy.

As I came out of the fog of my own grief, I discovered that the end of my tunnel wasn't where I thought it would be. And there wasn't much in Widowland that was familiar to me.

In this book, I talk about things I wish someone had talked to me about when I was first widowed. It is my hope that this work will serve as a resource for you, that the conversations you read here will be flickering candle to help light your way on your own widow journey; a glimmer of hope to know that you are not crazy, and you are not alone