Books for grieving a spouse

Most of the links from the book titles below will lead you to Amazon.com, where you can learn more about the book, read reviews about it, and order it if you'd like. Most of these books can be purchased through other book sellers, as well, or found at your local library.

Four Funerals and a Wedding
by Jill Smolowe

A Grace Disguised
by Jerry Sittser  

The Healing Power of Love: Transcending the Loss of a Spouse to New Love
by Gloria Lintermans and Marilyn Stolzman (2006).
A collection of twelve beautifully and honestly told, uplifting and inspirational stories of new, loving relationships following the loss of a spouse or partner.

The Hot Young Widows Club
by Nora McInerny

No Happy Endings
by Nora McInerny

The Loss of a Life Partner
by Carolyn Ambler Walter (2003).  
Walter offers 22 stories of individuals whose life partner died, presenting them against a tapestry of bereavement theories and issues. The widows and widowers describe the challenges of reframing their identity and life; particularly powerful are narratives and experiences of gay men and lesbians, because as disenfranchised grievers they lack the access to the legal benefits, supports, and social rituals of mourning.

Lost My Partner – What’ll I Do? A Practical Guide for Coping and Finding Strength When Your Spouse Dies
by Laurie J. Spector (2006).
A clear, compassionate guide with practical, powerful advice for moving from grief to gain. The revised edition adds even more outstanding advice to an already fabulous book.

Moving Forward on Your Own: A Financial Guidebook for Widows
by Kathleen Rehl (practical advice)

On the Road: Surviving the Loss of a Spouse
by Sheryl Garrett (2006).  
These straightforward guides… are confidence-building resources in situations that could otherwise be a tangled money maze.

Remembering with Love: Messages of Hope for the First Year of Grieving and Beyond
by Elizabeth Levang (Ph.D.) and Sherokee Ilse; Fairview Press (1996).  
Over 300 short, inspirational messages of hope to bereaved persons (not limited to widows).

The Tender Scar: Life After the Death of a Spouse
by Richard L. Mabry (2006).  
It offers valid, genuine help that well-meaning friends often cannot provide. It also gives the contact information for support groups.

Waking Up Alone: Grief & Healing
by Julie K. Cicero (2007).  
Surviving the death of a spouse/companion: Whether your loss was sudden or anticipated, your relationship brief or long-term, everyone's experience with grief is different. Recognizing and understanding the varied pathways of grief is crucial to your healing process.

Widow to Widow: Thoughtful Practical ideas for Rebuilding Your Life
by Genevieve Davis Ginsburg (1997).  
Writing from her own experience, frankly honest, dispels myths and timetables, encourages individual response.

The Widowed Self: the Older Woman's Journey through Widowhood
by Deborah Kestin Van Den Hoonaard; Wilfrid Laurier University Press (2000).
Writer is a professor of Gerontology. She uses an autobiographical technique to present both a scholarly and narrative commentary on a widowed woman’s relationships.

Especially for young widowed persons

—suggested by the Young Widowed Grief Support Program facilitators  

A Decembered Grief: Living with Loss While Others are Celebrating
by Harold Ivan Smith

Don't Take My Grief Away: What to Do When You Lose a Loved One
by Doug Manning

Healing a Spouse's Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas After Your Husband or Wife Dies
by Alan D.Wolfelt

I'm Grieving as Fast as I Can: How Young Widows and Widowers Cope and Heal
by Linda Feinberg

Loss and Found: How We Survived the Loss of a Young Spouse
by Gary Young and Kathy Young; Calabash Press (2001)
Written by young widowed people, out of their own experiences of loss and then creating a blended family of seven.

The Remembering With Love Journal: A Companion the First Year of Grieving and Beyond
by Elizabeth Levang

Starting from Scratch When You're Single Again
by Sharon M. Knudson and Mary Fran Heitzman

A Time to Say Good-Bye: Moving Beyond Loss
by Mary McClure Goulding

When Will I Stop Hurting? Dealing with a Recent Death
by June Cerza Kolf

Widowed Too Soon: A Young Widow's Journey through Grief, Healing, and Spiritual Transformation, Second Edition
by Laura Hirsch

Widows Wear Stilettos: A Practical and Emotional Guide for the Young Widow
by Carole Brody Fleet and Syd Harriet