What happens to wives when husbands die? The quick answer is widowhood. The deeper truth is they are forced into a life change that has serious ramifications for themselves, their families, their friends and their futures. Are poems and songs written about widow-heroes, does literature extol their strength and courage, their independence gained, their new lives discovered? Hardly. But women have important stories to tell about this time in their lives when they come face to face with one of the most common and devastating life experiences for women everywhere. Seventy-nine story tellers have joined together to tell about the tragic time that begins when, in an instant, the husband dies, the man, the lover, the companion, the mate is gone--and so is the marriage!