About this item
Becoming a widow is one of the most traumatic life events that a woman can experience. Yet, as this remarkable new collection reveals, each woman responds to that trauma differently. Here, forty-three widows tell their stories, in their own words. Some were widowed young, while others were married for decades. Some cared for their late partners through long terminal illnesses, while others lost their partners suddenly. Some had male partners, while others had female partners. Yet each of these women faced the same basic dilemma: how to go on living when a part of you is gone. Widows' Words is arranged chronologically, starting with stories of women preparing for their partners' deaths, followed by the experiences of recent widows still reeling from their fresh loss, and culminating in the accounts of women who lost their partners many years ago but still experience waves of grief.
About the Author
For 27 years I worked at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY where I taught developmental writing, composition, and women's literature. Then I became Academic Director of the CUNY Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies for nine years. After that, I became part-time Director of Special Projects at John Jay College and then worked for the City University of New York and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation documenting the development of The Stella and Charles Guttman Community College, CUNY. Upon retiring, I have volunteered with ReServe, Women's eNews, Global Action on Aging at the UN, The Whitney Museum, and Girls Write Now.
