Grief Unwrapped: Discovering Joy in a Season of Sorrow

Cameron’s wrenching debut memoir charts her path through grief after the unexpected death of her husband, Matthew, in 2015. Though no stranger to loss—she’d previously endured the deaths of her nephew, best friend, and infant daughter—the pain Cameron felt when her husband collapsed during a workout, fell into a coma, and died at 45 was almost too much to bear. The experience of “raising three boys alone—boys who needed their daddy—drove me to my knees as my heart ached and loneliness set in,” Cameron writes. In an effort to “thrive and enjoy life again,” she sought strength in the knowledge that God “supplies exactly the amount of strength we need to make it through the next day.” Other coping strategies included taking note of moments in which she felt a strong spiritual presence, practicing gratitude, and working to keep her husband’s memory alive for her sons and herself through such activities as taking a bike ride together on Father’s Day. While Cameron’s advice can be vague at times (“We need to keep our perspective and focus on the good things God has done”), the unvarnished details of her story are affecting. In one passage, she recalls telling her sons that they should still pray and believe their father would get better as he lingered in a coma at the hospital. “I’m still not sure if I handled it the best way,” Cameron writes. Believers who’ve wrestled with their own grief will be moved. (Nov.)