A Widow's Story

Unlike anything Joyce Carol Oates has written before, A Widow's Story is the universally acclaimed author's poignant, intimate memoir about the unexpected death of Raymond Smith, her husband of forty-six years, and its wrenching, surprising aftermath. A recent recipient of National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, Oates, whose novels (Blonde, The Gravedigger's Daughter, Little Bird of Heaven, etc.) rank among the very finest in contemporary American fiction, offers an achingly personal story of love and loss. A Widow's Story is a literary memoir on a par with The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion and Calvin Trillin's About Alice.

What happens when a marriage of nearly five decades ends in a single, unexpected phone call?

• A Hospital Vigil: From a sudden cold to a diagnosis of pneumonia, Oates chronicles the harrowing, moment-by-moment hospital watch for her beloved husband, Raymond Smith.
• A 47-Year Love Story: An intimate portrait of a long and loving marriage--a life built together that collapses in an instant, leaving behind a chasm of loneliness and memory.
• The Aftermath of Loss: Navigating the surreal landscape of "free fall" and "purgatory" after her husband's death, from the first disorienting hours to the onslaught of well-intentioned sympathy.
• Unflinching Honesty: With the raw, introspective power that defines her fiction, Oates lays bare the fury, despair, and surprising absurdities that come with sudden bereavement.