Book: A Young Widow's Book of Home Improvement

Although I initially baulked at buying a book about widowhood while I was on my way to a wedding, I was just too keen to take the opportunity to read a book, this book, on my weekend away. And I'm glad I did. It was not as inapposite to the wedding weekend as I had imagined as it detailed the intense love and commitment of a young woman to her new husband who was battling with terminal cancer. For this couple, it really was for better or for worse. This is an autobiographical work focusing on several stages of the writer's life with and without her husband - falling in love, the downward slope towards death, grief and renovations (which are beautifully metaphorical for her grieving process). It is written well, though sometimes it appears a little repetitive, particularly closer to the end. I particularly like how the author switches between the different stages throughout the book. It was extremely eye-opening and gave me a better understanding of grief, especially as I have been lucky enough to grieve so little in life so far. It is also challenging as the two protagonists both show such incredible commitment and support to each other through such devastating adversity. I'm a slow reader, but it only took me a few hours to get through this (probably just over half a day). Loved it and can't wait for another book from Virginia Lloyd. http://www.virginialloyd.com/