At the age of 50, newly widowed Rowena Hill feels only relief to be free of her penny-pinching fusspot of a husband. As she makes her stumbling efforts to become fulfilled as a woman and a wage-earner, well-intentioned friends and her overbearing daughter all make plans for her future, with results that are sometimes comical, sometimes disastrous. However, Rowena's growing taste for independence leads her to a solution to her problems that no one could have predicted and which astonishes even herself. First published in 1991, A Serious Widow collected glowing reviews.