Second-Year Widow

The Path From Grief to Transformation

Christian - Living
66 Pages
Reviewed on 09/24/2020
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Author Biography

I’m just an ordinary working widow who had no idea what the impact of losing a spouse would be. And I thought others might be “in the same boat.” I was 59 when Mac died – too young to retire but too old to start over. Or so I thought. What happened to me in the second year really changed my mind about when and how often we can change our lives. For me, it was mostly a spiritual change. At first, I wanted to capture in writing that transformation process for myself. But during that second year I had a desire to share the journey with others. I sat on the idea of publishing the book for several years. But the idea kept returning. This book comes from the heart and the experience of being a widow. While some may not find any benefit from what it says, I hope others will see something that will work for them, too.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Mamta Madhavan for Readers' Favorite

Second-Year Widow: The Path From Grief to Transformation by Anne Thrower is the poignant story of the author after losing her husband Mac, who died of a massive cardiac arrest on Thanksgiving Day morning. The memoir captures her journey of grief and she hopes it will be a 'lagniappe' (an old New Orleans Creole word meaning 'something extra') for her widow companions. She speaks about continuing to find ways to integrate Mac into her life forever and how her life as a widow might give hope to other widows and ease their journey. Her first year after losing Mac was devoted to the process of getting over losing him and then how later on she became a regular churchgoer.

Second-Year Widow is a story of loss, grief, resilience, and it is uplifting to read how the death of her husband helped Anne Thrower refocus and listen to God working in her life. She speaks about how her faith in God helped her to look at the difficulties, adversities, challenges, trials, and brokenness with a new outlook and sculpted her to become a new human being. It is tough for many widows when their anniversaries approach and it is important to calmly move on with their respective lives. This memoir gives hope to many readers out there who are battling loneliness after losing their loved one and do not know how to come to terms with it. Anne Thrower is honest when she speaks about her life and helps readers understand that it is not easy to get over grief entirely and how finally it becomes part of life's normal healthy healing process.

Michelle Cole

"Second-Year Widow: The Path From Grief to Transformation," by Anne Thrower, is a heartwarming story about Anne's journey, through grief, after losing her husband Mac — on Thanksgiving Day. A very important part of grief, is transformation, and the author brilliantly details her transformation, along with her treasured memories of her husband and their life together — throughout the book. Faith in God is needed to get through many hardships in life. Grief is often devastating, however, with God's help, we can get through it. I really enjoyed reading this book. I also loved the inspiring quotes and Scriptures. I highly recommend this book for widows — and for anyone who is experiencing loss. A must-read!