Synopsis To me, this is a novel about second chances. All characters in The Widower have an opportunity for something else, beyond where their lives have taken them to this point. In many cases this means, quite literally, to live and love again. The horrific accident that killed Swanton Robey's young wife has left him a broken man, a prisoner of his injuries and his heart's great loss. Swan watches a small slice of the world through his second-story window, gazing out over the orchard he owns but can no longer care for. Joseph Geewa has been a prisoner too, for a crime triggered by grief and ordained by fate. Now free after twenty years, he is trying to build a life among the living-a life of simple beauty, of choices built on the kindness of others. Grace Blackwater, his niece, is guiding him back into the world, even as she is drawn to Swan's tragic isolation. Then an astonishing discovery in the orchard suddenly propels the two men on a journey of rescue and redemption that in turn might set them both free. The Widower is narrated in episodes that join past and present. It explores the twists of fortune that bind together Swan, Joseph and Grace-and Ray Ford, the EMT busy saving lives while trying to save his own; Ramona Blackwater, the funny and wise, all-knowing voice of reason; Dawn, the young mother, trying to find her way home-and, through episodes of love and mystery, reveals what happens when these lives intersect.