The most recommended books about widows

This book is powerful to me because of the intense mother/daughter conflict she relates. My mother was lovely, well-read, and held an important position at our state university. However, she was also extremely critical of her children. Because I never rebelled against my mother, I was entranced with Joanne Harris’ young character, Framboise, who plans and carries out a rebellion against her mother that is worthy of the French resistance. Many years later, when Framboise Simon returns to a small village on the banks of the Loire, the locals do not recognize her as the daughter of the infamous woman they hold responsible for a tragedy during the German occupation.

The past and present are inextricably entwined in a scrapbook of recipes and memories that Framboise inherited from her now-deceased mother. The journal contains the key to the tragedy that indelibly marked that summer of her ninth year. The mother… show more.

I laughed out loud frequently while reading this book and when I wasn’t laughing out loud, I was smiling.

Susan Coll’s writing is satire, but it is very gentle satire: the author’s affection and sympathy for people is always clear, even as she is describing their ridiculously bumbling ways. I love all of her novels but this one, as the title suggests, is perfect for people who love books, set as it is in an indie bookstore full to overflowing with characters who embody all the ways that bookish people can be both loveable and ridiculous in their typically bookish ways.

Spencer Quinn's Mrs. Plansky, a retired 70-something in a Florida retirement community, falls victim to a scam that cleans out her savings. She has no job, no husband (he's recently deceased), an elderly and difficult father, and several needy grown children with ridiculous schemes that would require big cash infusions from their mother.

She decides she can't take this blow lying down and rises to the occasion in the most charming and wildly believable way. (Hint: she travels to Romania to track down and confront the scammers.)

Since I enjoy Richard Osman's books about a foursome of senior sleuths and adore writing octogenarian Miss Gloria in my Key West mysteries, Mrs. Plansky struck me as the perfect spunky sleuth. 

This book is set just after the war and deals with the aftermath of a devastated land. Rich in detail with characters that tug at the heartstrings, it is a story of complex loyalties and dealing with betrayal. A beautiful and powerful story of tender hearts left wounded by a very difficult time. I listened to the audio version of this story and found it to be one I wanted to stop everything I was doing to savor.

Tales of enemies who become lovers – whether from warring families or rival gangs – are as old as Pyramus and Thisbe, Romeo and Juliet, and Tony and Maria.

Setting this story during an actual war heightens the tension. This book will draw you in from the start.

Josef Landermann sails aboard a German U-boat, hunting Allied supply ships in the waters of the Gulf Coast. Helen Mason is the embittered Alabama widow of a US Army Air Force pilot killed by the Luftwaffe. How Josef and Helen come together is a remarkable, enchanting true story.

Woven around themes of love and forgiveness, The Heart Mender is a thrilling page-turner that will touch your heart.

The Essex Serpent entices rather than seances, and we are treated to a downright clash between science and religion, all played out against the backdrop of the Essex marshland and the possible reappearance of a winged creature that has haunted those shores for some several hundred years.

The Outlander is a gripping historical fiction novel set in the Canadian Rockies.

The story follows Mary Boulton, a young woman on the run from her dangerous husband. As Mary navigates the rugged wilderness, she encounters a cast of memorable characters and faces numerous trials.

I loved its evocative and atmospheric writing, transporting me to the untamed Rocky Mountains in the early 20th century. Adamson's portrayal of Mary as a strong and resourceful protagonist captivated me. The land is brutal and beautiful at one, as are the characters she encounters.

The Outlander is a compelling tale of survival, filled with suspense, surprising twists and turns, and a captivating exploration of the human spirit. I could not put this down.

I love Lidie Newton. She is a newlywed who accompanies her abolitionist husband from Illinois to Kansas Territory, at a time when the territory is mired in partisan rage and violence. Lidie narrates the story, and her straightforward, often insightful accounts pulled me in immediately. I was right there with her as she forged her way through numerous exploits, some humorous, others heart-breaking. The story is populated with characters who are both colorful and believable, and I came away with a heightened understanding of the role played by events in Kansas and Missouri during the frightening months leading up to the Civil War.

I love how the stories being shared, stories of inner strength—courage—are from a variety of women. From an Indian chief’s daughter’s actions during an uprising to a doctor’s fight to keep thalidomide from being prescribed to a Quaker’s efforts for the equal treatment of blacks in schools, this well-written book is about strong women who broke through walls and refused to be imprisoned by society’s accepted norms for what a woman’s role should be. While the women featured are not current, it doesn’t make the book any less significant. What’s important are their courageous stories. Heroes are heroes whether what they did was in the past or present.

There can be no question greater than “Is there life outside the Earth?”. Sara Seager places her own search for planets outside the Earth - almost 5000 planets in other solar systems have been discovered in the past three decades, including Earth-like bodies - against her own life story and struggles as a scientist weathering the unexpected loss of a spouse and the raising of her two young sons. Astronomers estimate there are billions of undiscovered planets just in our Galaxy. Seager paints our very own Earth as a bright point of community and connection in the vastness of space as she gives a first-person account of the technical challenges of seeking other planets and life elsewhere.