AFTER YOUR LOVED ONE DIES: Finding Hope and Strength to Carry On

is based on experiences of bereavement and the grief that follows the death of a loved one. Although we assume that we know what a bereaved person goes through after such a loss (shock and sadness), this is just the tip of the iceberg. Loss of a loved one entails an out-of-view and deep-seated suffering capable of creating startling and peculiar reactions and changes in the bereaved, which the book highlights so that all may understand.

The book incorporates both the authors own experiences and those of other bereaved people she sought out after the death of her husband. It is hoped that the book will help not only the newly bereaved but also those who have been bereaved for a longer time but still struggling to make sense of their loss, because of the lingering nature of grief.

It is divided into five parts, each covering a specific aspect of these experiences and addresses, inter alia, the following:

1) Adjusting to the loss and to an environment in which your loved one is no longer present.

2) Some coping tips on how to find hope and strength to carry on.

3) Cultural sensitivity and the role that culture plays in bereavement and grief.

4) The valuable lessons that one learns on this painful journey of grief, which can be imparted to others - to the bereaved, to those around the bereaved, and to others, because bereavement can happen to any one at some point in their life - therefore a kind of forewarned is fore-armed sort of awareness.

5) How bereaved people, having eventually found strength to carry on, can help newly bereaved people through their grief so that they, too, can emerge unbroken by it.