Three Times A Mourner: Personal Essays on Grief and Healing

Fredricka R. Maister calls herself "a lifelong mourner."

At twelve, she lost her father suddenly-and coped by not coping. Twenty-five years later, the brutal murder of her longtime partner shattered the emotional barriers she had built. Then came the slow decline of her mother, whose final years were spent in a nursing home.

Each loss brought its own kind of grief, shaped by the relationship, the circumstances, and the stage of life in which it occurred. In Three Times a Mourner, Maister, a s...