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Created by widowed people for widowed people. We get you.

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Books

Books Written by People Widowed in this Way

This collection of books were written by a person whose loved one experienced the type of death noted for the category on which the book is included. The topics covered are varied, but will relate to some aspect of the widowed experience. A mix of titles from all categories will be included in this section of our book library, and have not in all cases been individually vetted by the Soaring Spirits Program Team.

A Grief Observed

by C.S. Lewis

A Journal for Jordan: A Story of Love and Honor

by Dana Canedy

A Widow’s Walk: A Memoir of 9/11

by Marian Fontana

Beyond the Bullet: Personal Stories of Gun Violence Aftermath

by Heidi Yewman

Black Widow

by Leslie Gray Streeter

Companion Through the Darkness

by Stephanie Ericsson

Confessions of a Mediocre Widow: Or, How I Lost My Husband and My Sanity

by Catherine Tidd

Creative Grieving: A Hip Chick’s Path from Loss to Hope

by Elizabeth Berrien

Psychoeducational Books

The books included in our psychoeducational category are written by a person with an educational background in a mental health field, and have been vetted by our Soaring Spirits Program Team. The authors of these books may or may not be widowed, but the concepts included in their books will offer valuable resources to anyone mourning a person who has died.

A to Z Healing Toolbox

A to Z Healing Toolbox

A Practical Guide for Navigating Grief and Trauma with Intention

by Susan Hannifin-MacNab, MSW

African American Grief

by Paul Rosenblatt, PhD & Beverly Wallace, PhD, MDiv, MEd

Anxiety the missing stage of grief

The Missing Stage of Grief

by Claire Bidwell-Smith, LCPC

Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief

by Joanne Cacciatore, PhD

Different after You: Rediscovering Yourself and Healing after Grief and Trauma

by Michele Neff Hernandez

From Grief to Growth

by Paula Stephens, M.A.

Getting Grief Right

by Patrick O'Malley, PhD

Healing Trauma

by Peter Levine, PH.D.

I Wasn’t Ready to Say Goodbye

Surviving, Coping, and Healing after the Death of a Loved One

by Brooke Noel & Pamela Blair, PhD

I Wasn’t Ready to Say Goodbye, 2nd Ed.: A Companion Workbook

by Brooke Noel & Pamela Blair, PhD

Invisible Heroes

Survivors of Trauma and How they Heal

by Belleruth Naparstek, ACSW

Little Ways to Keep Calm and Carry On

Twenty Lessons for Managing Worry, Anxiety, and Fear

by Mark Reinecke, PH.D.

Mind-Body Workbook for PTSD

A 10 Week Program for Healing After Trauma

by Stanley H. Block, MD. & Carolyn Bryant Block

On Grief and Grieving

by Elizabeth Kubler Ross, M.D. & David Kessler

Seven Choices: Finding Daylight After Loss Shatters Your World

Finding Daylight after Loss Shatters Your World

by Elizabeth Harper Neeld, PhD.

The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma

by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.

The Grief Recovery Handbook

by John James & Russell Friedman

The Healing Power of the Breath: Simple Techniques to Reduce Stress and Anxiety, Enhance Concentration and Balance Your Emotions

by Richard Brown, MD & Patricia Gerbarg, MD

The Post-Traumatic Insomnia Workbook: A Step-by-Step Program for Overcoming Sleep Problems After Trauma

by Karin and Laurel Thompson and Franklin

The Posttraumatic Growth Workbook

by Richard Tedeschi, PhD & Bret Moore, PsyD, ABPP

The PTSD Solution: The Truth About Your Symptoms and How to Heal

by Alan D. Wolfelt, PH.D., C.T.

Thriving Through Crisis: Turn Tragedy and Trauma into Growth and Change

by Bill O'Hanlon

Transforming Traumatic Grief: Six Steps to Move from Grief to Peace After the Sudden or Violent Death of a Loved One.

by Courtney Armstrong, M.Ed., LPC

What Doesn’t Kill Us

The New Psychology of Postraumatic Growth

by Stephen Joseph, Ph.D.

Peer Recommendations

Our peer recommendation category offers a space within our library for community members to recommend books related to grief and widowhood that they've found valuable. These books are not individually vetted, but have helped a widowed person who took the time to recommend the book to others.

A Beacon of Hope- A journal for life after loss

by Nisha Cohen

A Grief Observed

by C.S. Lewis

A Journal for Jordan: A Story of Love and Honor

by Dana Canedy

A Love Letter to Thomas: My Journey Through Grief

by Eve Chauvel

A Right Brain Awakening: What Grief Taught a Heartbroken Engineer

by John Lodal

A Widow’s Fire: An Intimate Memoir of Heartbreak, Survival, and Moving On

by Diane Pike Heiler

A Widow’s Story: A Memoir

by Joyce Carol Oates

A Widow’s Walk: A Memoir of 9/11

by Marian Fontana

An Unwanted Journey: Embracing Life After Loss

by Jennifer Nilsen

Available As Is: A Midlife Widow’s Search for Love

by Debbie Weiss

Biz’s Journey Home

by Jean MacDougall-Tattan

Boldly into the Darkness: Living with Loss, Growing with Grief & Holding on to Happiness

by Autumn Toelle-Jackson

Burn. Baby. Burn.: A Fiery Memoir of Love and Dreams

by Cindy Helms

Climbing Out: An Adventure in Rediscovering Life After Loss

by Robin L. Flanigan & Bonnie Thies

Colors of Grief: A Poetic Journey of Love, Loss and Hope

by Pascale Reidenberg

Companion Through the Darkness

by Stephanie Ericsson

Confessions of a Mediocre Widow: Or, How I Lost My Husband and My Sanity

by Catherine Tidd

Conscious Grieving: A Transformative Approach to Healing from Loss

by Claire Bidwell Smith

Counting Bones: Anatomy of Love Lost and Found

by Ellen Anderson Penno

Creative Grieving: A Hip Chick’s Path from Loss to Hope

by Elizabeth Berrien

Demystifying Grief: What You Need to Know to Heal

by Diane Kirby

Digging In: A Novel

by Loretta Nyhan

Don’t Take My Grief Away From Me

by Doug Manning

Everything Happens For a Reason…And Other Lies I’ve Loved

by Kate Bowler

Filled With Gold: A Widow’s Story

by Melissa Grahek Pierce

Grief and the collage of love

by Pascale Reidenberg

Healing After Loss

Daily Meditations for Working Through Grief

by Martha W. Hickman

Healing Your Traumatized Heart

100 Practical Ideas After Someone You Love Dies A Sudden, Violent Death

by Alan D. Wolfelt PH.D.

Healthy Healing: A Guide to Working Out Grief Using the Power of Exercise and Endorphins

by Michelle Steinke-Baumgard

Here if You Need Me

by Kate Braestrup

Hints for Grieflings & Griefsurfing

by Kim Shute

How to Survive the Loss of a Love

by Melba Colgrove, Harold H. Bloomfield & Peter McWilliams

I Know You Love Me: To My Husband, Bill

by Jean Kaiserling

I’m Grieving as Fast as I Can: How Young Widows and Widowers Can Cope and Heal

by Linda Feinberg

Lessons in Resilience: Learning from Loss, Uncertainty, Change, and Kinfolk

by Dr. Sonia Alvarez-Robinson

Levels of Life

by Julian Barnes

Living When a Loved One Has Died

by Earl Grollman

Looking into the Eye of Grief: An Illustrative View of the Essence of Grief

by Marlene Enderlein

Loving Grief

by Paul Bennett

My Steve

by Terri Irwin

No Words: A Journal From One Widow to Another

by Michaela Burbank

Not All Pain Screams: Poems on Loss, Love, Fatherhood and Healing

by Nigel Stagg

Open to Hope: Inspirational Stories for Handling the Holidays After Loss

by Dr. Gloria Horsley & Dr. Heidi Horsley

Option B

by Sheryl Sandberg & Adam Grant

Ramblings of a Forty-Something Widow

by Joanne Hattersley

Re-arranged, Never the Same: The Nature of Grief

by Deva Joy Gouss L.C.S.W.

Remembering with Love

Messages of Hope for the First Year of Grieving and Beyond

by Elizabeth Levang & Sherokee Isle

Sacred Shadow, Sacred Ground: A Vietnam War Widow’s Journey Through Unresolved Grief

by Glenda M. Carter

Safe Passage

by Molly Fumia

Saturday Night Widows: The Adventures of Six Friends Remaking Their Lives

by Becky Aikman

That Day and What Came After: Finding and Losing the Love of My Life in Six Short Years

by Rebecca Daniels

The AfterGrief: Finding Your Way Along the Long Arc of Loss

by Hope Edelman

The Birth of a Widow: Collected Poems

by Kathie Giorgio

The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss

by Dr. Mary-Frances O'Connor

The Hospice Doctor’s Widow: A Journal

by Jennifer O'Brien

The Inpatient Years: To My Husband, Bill

by Jean Kaiserling

The Language of Loss: Poetry and Prose for Grieving and Celebrating the Love of Your Life

by Barbara Abercrombie

The Little Book of Trauma Healing

by Carolyn Yoder

The Loss World

by Mary London Szpara

The More or Less Definitive Guide to Self-Care

by Anna Borges

The Sudden Loss Survival Guide: Seven Essential Practices for Healing Grief

by Chelsea Hanson

The Widowed Dancer: Growing Through Grief With Gratitude

by Bryan Martin

The Widower’s Journey: Helping Men Rebuild After Their Loss

by Herb Knoll

The Year of Magical Thinking

by Joan Didion

Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss & Love

by Matthew Logelin

Uncharted: A widow’s journey back to life and love cruising the Intracoastal Waterway

by Barbara Busenbark

When You Lose Someone You Love: A Journey Through The Heart of Grief

by Susan Squellati Florence

When Your Spouse Dies

A concise and practical source of help and advice

by Cathleen Curry

Widowish: A Memoir

Available 2/1/2021

by Melissa Gould

Words: A Playful Parlance Coloring Book

by Cindy Helms

You Can’t Do It Alone

by Maria Quiban Whitesell

Your Grief, Your Way

by Shelby Forsythia

Your Own Path Through Grief: A workbook for your journey to recovery

by Jill Johnson-Young, LCSW

Camp Widow Presenter Books

Soaring Spirits' flagship program, Camp Widow, has been supported by a huge group of volunteer presenters who have shared their personal experiences, their wisdom, and their hearts with our community at any of our camp events. These books are all written by an author who has donated their time to at least one camp weekend. We list their books, which have not been individually vetted, to thank them for the generous support and to offer a broader audience access to the lessons they've taught onsite at Camp Widow.

Beyond Shattered Dreams

by Gaylene Guillemin

Black Widow

by Leslie Gray Streeter

Finding Peace, One Piece at a Time

by Rachel Kodanaz

From Heartbreak to Wholeness

by Kristine Carlson

From Scratch

by Tembi Locke

Grief in the Workplace

by Rachel Kodanaz

Grief Quest

A Workbook and Journal to Heal the Grieving Heart

by I.J. Weinstock

How to Carry What Can’t Be Fixed: A Journal for Grief

by Megan Devine

It’s OK That You’re Not OK

Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture that Doesn't Understand

by Megan Devine

Letters to the Widowed Community

by Kerry Phillips

Life Worth Living

by Michelle Hoffman

Listen for the Whispers: Coping With Grief and Learning to Live Again

by Kim Kluxen Meredith

Living with Loss, One Day at a Time

by Rachel Kodanaz

Lost & Found: Finding Life After Death

Finding Life After Death

by Reider Lyne

My Husband is Not a Rainbow

by Kelley Lynn Shepherd

Never Stop Dancing

by John Robinette & Robert Jacoby

Ordinary Miracles: Life After Loss

by Margo Sage

Planet Widow: A Mother’s Story of Navigating a Suddenly Unrecognizable World

by Gloria Lenhart

Radical Survivor

by Dr. Nancy Saltzman

The Alchemy of Loss

by Abigail Carter

The Grief Practice

by Monique Minahan

The Healing Hand

Five Discussions to Have With the Dying Who are Living

by Sue Knight Deutsch

The Unedited Heart: Letters on Loss

by Monique Minahan

Widows’ Words

Women Write on the Experience of Grief, The First Year, The Long Haul, and Everything in Between

by Alice Goode-Elman, Kelli Dunham & Penelope Dugan

Middle School/High School Books

Biz’s Journey Home

by Jean MacDougall-Tattan

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Contact Info

Soaring Spirits International
2828 Cochran St. #194
Simi Valley, CA 93065

Email: contact@widowedvillage.org

Phone: 877-671-4071

Soaring Spirits International is a 501(c)3 Corporation EIN#: 38-3787893. Soaring Spirits International provides resources with no endorsement implied.

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