Companion Through the Darkness: Inner Dialogues on Grief

Ms. Ericsson, In case no one has recently told you, I want to make sure you know the value of your words in "Companion Through The Darkness". Yes , I am grieving. My magnificent wife who I loved for 31 years died last August from a progressively worsening lung disease that caused her active life to totally collapse the last 7 months of her life. My wife was a "social" comedian who loved to make people laugh, of Italian heritage but born in Nice, France area, an accomplished artist whose paintings of Provence hang in many homes here in New England, a gourmet cook whose charity dinners sold for over $1000 and who could throw a dinner party together for 12 people in a wink and have all the diners laughing the whole evening. She was always attired in her own fashion and had style and taste groomed from France and Italy but still took delight in helping her female friends shop. She was respected and loved by everyone who knew her. 300 people came to her funeral and most every one wanted to speak about what my wife meant to them. I tell you all this for a purpose:This was a woman that was so very hard for her husband to lose. The agony of my grief was unbearable. I threw out many meaningless articles and books sent to me. Yours was the only book that from the moment I started reading helped me. I found such amazment in your description of what I was feeling. I have reread it often and continue to do so as my life goes on to a "next chapter". I find I want to compare what you did under similar circumstances. I am now ordering additional books- one for a friend in need and one to give to a psychologist friend to recommend to his patients as he sees fit. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your wonderfull insight, sensitivity and writing ability.

This book was by far the best book on grief and grieving I have come across and I have shared it and recommended it to my counselors, other widows, family and friends. The straight and honest language used so totally expresses the emotions and experiences of grieving the loss of a spouse. I found this book to be such a wonderful validation of my loss and grief experiences - I rely on it on a regular basis to tell others what I went through. I can't say enough good things about this book and this author. Kudos to Ms. Ericsson!

The first book on grieving that I haven't thrown across the room in disgust! The first one I've read that actually put real, honest words around the horror of losing the love of my life. I find myself wishing friends and family would read this one, but I don't think I would have been able to before my husband's death. A must for facilitators of grief support groups, especially if they have never experienced the death of a beloved spouse themselves.

My young widows' support group all agree that this is the ONLY book that we kept returning to, month after long and lonely month. Five years later this is the book we all buy for the newly bereaved of our aquaintance. Like us, Stephanie has "been there and done that", and we all benefitted from sharing her experiences.