Widow's Walk: One Woman's Spiritual and Emotional Journey to a New Life

In a moving examination of love and loss, Hosansky alternates between recollections of her 34-year-long marriage; her husband Mel's 23-month fight with cancer; and her life since his death. Widows reading her controlled, yet wrenchingly eloquent prose will identify with what it means to face acute loneliness and cope with mixed emotions of despair, anger and guilt while at the same time dealing with new financial and other practical responsibilities. The author relives the continual associations of places, objects, holidays, anniversaries--the moments of a shared life--that are equally painful whether they crop up unbidden or are deliberately evoked as therapy in support groups. Slowly, though, Hosansky comes to grips with her new life, and before setting out alone on a trip to Italy, she removes her wedding ring, declaring ``with this ring . . . I thee unwed.'' (Jan.)