Twelve top memoirs of widowhood

Marion Winik is the author of nine books, including The Big Book of the Dead (2019) and First Comes Love (1996; reissued with a new introduction in 2026). Her essays have been published in The New York Times Magazine, The Sun, and elsewhere; her column at BaltimoreFishbowl.com has been running since 2011.

[Coffee with a Canine: Marion Winik and Beau (December 2009); Coffee with a Canine: Marion Winik and Beau (June 2013); Writers Read: Marion Winik (June 2013)]

A professor at the University of Baltimore, she reviews books for The Washington Post, Oprah Daily, and People, among others, and hosts the NPR podcast The Weekly Reader. She was a commentator on All Things Considered for fifteen years. She is the recipient of the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Service Award.

At Publishers Weekly Winik tagged twelve top widow memoirs, including:

Black Widow: A Sad-Funny Journey Through Grief for People Who Normally Avoid Books with Words Like “Journey” in the Title
Leslie Gray Streeter

Streeter was working for a Florida newspaper as “the black Carrie Bradshaw” when she reconnected with Scott Jervitz, a white high school classmate, on a Facebook reunion page. They had only five and a half years before she found herself planning a funeral instead of a 45th birthday party. Opening her memoir with a riff on casket selection before flashing back to the night of Scott’s death, Streeter’s ability to ferret out the funny in almost anything is rare among books of this kind.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue