Pauline Laurent's Grief Denied: A Vietnam Widow's Story is a compelling, memorable, superbly written, candid, and intimate account of her coming to terms with the grief of her husband in the Vietnam War when she was 22 years old and pregnant. Grief Denied is a simply wonderful book, the writing as compassionate as it is sincere. From first page to last, Grief Denied will prove rewarding, insightful reading on the human condition and what we can do when inevitably confronted with loss and pain in our own lives and families.

Reading Pauline Laurent's book, Grief Denied, A Vietnam Widow's Story has helped me painfully yet better understand the denied grief that is within me - grief and fear that colors my values and lends a dark skepticism to my personality in ways that my own psychiatric training has failed to enlighten. It hurts to have our darkness exposed to the light of Truth. I don't like hurt. Pauline's text has inspired me to "flow on", not to worry about the tears! After all, tears like rivers were meant to flow. It is the stuff of life. When we try to stop the flow...stagnation! I still want to work with patients, but in a different way, a way that is more spiritual, more meaningful for both of us."

Pauline Laurent's beautifully written "Grief Denied- A Vietnam Widow's Story" is a brave gift to a country that needs to look at the long-term traumatic effects on loved ones of those who answered the call to Vietnam. As a former wife of a Vietnam veteran who physically survived the war, but was scarred mentally and emotionally, I have longed for books that tell of the trauma behind closed doors on American soil, long after the end of the Vietnam war. Sadly, I have found very little written on the subject. I used to think I was alone in the madness of grief and confusion. Thanks to Pauline Laurent, I know there are many others out there who have suffered similar experiences, with no recognition. It is time for America to wake up, look at the ugly aftermath and acknowledge it. There has been too much shame born by those of us directly affected by Nam. I thank and applaud Pauline for adding a most important work to the "women on the homefront" point of view. It is high time we give credit to those women who have paid a high price for loving Vietnam vets!