A moving, page-turning chronicle of a husband's loss and the loving, modern history of a marriage On a summer day Jonathan discovers his wife Joy gasping for breath on their living room couch. After a frenzied 911 call, an ambulance racing across Manhattan, and his ominous hours pacing Bellevue's ER waiting room, the doctor delivers the fateful news. Consumed by his loss, Jonathan desperately tries to pursue life as he always had—teaching writing at Pratt, social engagements, and working on his art—but finds it nearly impossible to admit to anyone, even his beloved daughter Doria, even to himself, just how much he is hurting. And as Jonathan grieves and heals, he must establish exactly what happened to Joy. It is over a year later when he finally finds the courage to return to the hospital and unravel the medical mystery. Written with great warmth and unexpected humor, The Widower's Notebook is the portrait of a marriage, an account of the complexities of finding oneself single again after losing your spouse, and of the enduring power of familial love.