The Widow's War

 Book 89 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from December 6 - 19

The Widow's War by Sally Gunning

published 2006

Summary (via the book jacket)

Married for twenty years to Edward Berry, Lyddie is used to the trials of being a whaler's wife in the Cape Cod village of Satucket, Massachusetts - running their house herself during her husband's long absences at sea, living with the daily uncertainty that Edward will simply not return. And when her worst fear is realized, she finds herself doubly cursed. She is overwhelmed by grief, and her property and rights are now legally in the hands of her nearest male relative: her daughter's overbearing husband, whom Lyddie cannot abide. Lyddie decides to challenge both law and custom for control of her destiny, but she soon discovers the price of her bold "war" for personal freedom to be heartbreakingly dear.

My Opinion

4 stars

This book had a lot of moving pieces in a way that felt true to life but it wasn't dense to read.  I liked that the characters weren't all good or bad; they were all flawed. Their baseline decency and morality were different so even if most/all the characters made progress by the end, the changes looked different because of where they started.

I see this book is the first in a series and I will probably continue reading them even though it doesn't look like I have to (the second book appears to be in the same town but focus on new main characters so some characters will be familiar but not the central plot).