“Librarian’s Shelf” by Robert Trautwein   Books on Grieving Well-intended platitudes abound when a loved one dies, but personal grief remains and is borne in weighted silence. You’re left alone, unable to share your aspirations, your joys, and your heartaches. The conversation is silenced. The Library has a number of books and videos to help a person who is grieving the death of a parent. In her landmark book, “Motherless Daughters, the legacy of loss”, the author, Hope Edelman says, “…ask any woman whose mother has died and she will tell you that she is irrevocably altered, as profoundly changed by her mother’s death as she was by her mother’s life.” While we all acknowledge that a mother’s mortality is inevitable, this book, printed in 1994, is one of the first to address the lasting effects of this incalculable loss. “Your Healing Journey through Grief” by Stanley Cornils details the natural mourning process that eventually allows one to recover from a loss and resume a fulfilling life. Janet Grosshandler-Smith’s “Coping When a Parent Dies” was written for an adolescent who is grieving. While it focuses on helping a young person overcome a parent’s death, the book offers advice and comfort to anyone suffering from melancholy and grief. There are a number of other books in the collection about parents’ grief for their dead children and a spouse’s incalculable sense of loss over the death of a mate. Titles include: “Grieving the Loss of Someone you Love” by Ray Mitsch; “Good Grief, I have to plan a funeral: a detailed guide to planning a funeral” by Judy Smith-Ross; “Unattended Sorrow” by Stephen Levine; “Beyond Tears: living after losing a child” by Carol Barkin; and the classic, “On Grief and Grieving” by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. Videos in the collection include “Journey through the Shadows: Hope for healing after someone you love has committed suicide” and “Light among the Shadows: how to help those you care for when a suicide occurs”. The video, “Footprints on our Hearts” deals with the coping of a miscarriage, still birth or newborn death. “Standing Tall” helps teenagers face the death of a loved one. A title that intrigued me is “Life after Loss, a personal guide to dealing with death, divorce, job change and relocation” by Bob Deits. For a healthy recovery, the author teaches the reader how to talk to others who don’t know what to say; why tears help; dealing with holidays, anniversaries and family events; and the importance of grief-support groups. A poet, by employing a few words, can often best describe a human condition. William Wordsworth (1770-1850) wrote in Intimations of Immortality, (and I paraphrase) “What though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight…grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind, in the primal sympathy which having been must ever be…”