IT MUST HAVE BEEN MOONGLOW: Reflections on the First Years of Widowhood

When she was in her 80s, Greene's husband of 56 years, Bob, died. These plainspoken and unassuming ruminations on her first two years without him are based on a journal she began three weeks after his death. Greene does not claim to have any perspective on widowhood other than the purely personal; she writes of her memoir, "[i]t is helping me even as I hope it helps those who might read it." She shares how she coped with sleepless nights, making decisions by herself, traveling alone and simply missing Bob's companionship, covering specifics like being a single party guest and deciding what to do with Bob's antique gun (she sold it). Energetic and optimistic, Greene eventually found solace in friends, family and volunteer work. "Your heart may feel like stone," she writes, "but your mind needs to keep going." She also discovered the pleasure of using a computer and joining an online book discussion group. Shortly after Bob died, Greene's heart condition worsened, forcing her to get a pacemaker. She describes muddling through that frightening experience with the help of her brother and children, but without the husband who had been the most important person in her life. (On sale Sept. 25)

Forecast:Given that elderly, widowed women outnumber widowed men by three to two, according to the author, this book is commercially promising. Middle-class widows with grown children (Greene has three) who had long, happy marriages will be her primary readers; a six-city author tour should help her reach them.