This book, by a widely experienced clinical psychologist, is a gentle invitation for readers to move through the many shades of absorbing a loved one's death, and provides those who are grieving, or anticipating loss, with a compassionate companion on one of the most difficult journeys of a lifetime. Organized into fifty-two sections, one for each week of the first year of loss, it offers meaningful reflections, meditations, and journal prompts to guide the reader along his or her path-including finding acceptance, inner healing, personal rituals, and much more. While supporting and comforting the reader through the acute and disorienting path of grief, Dr. Schmidt makes clear that it may take time to enter this difficult process after a loss and is not likely to end after marking the first anniversary. The book continues as a powerful resource for guidance and solace for as long as the reader needs it.