FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Toronto, Thursday, March 6, 2025. Ingenium Books will release a groundbreaking book that will illuminate in poetic detail a unique approach to dealing with loss.

Habits of Widows (working title), chronicles the 366 days beginning with the death of author Rondalyn Whitney’s husband in a car accident.

“The death of a loved one triggers a trauma response as powerful as a heart attack, stroke, or a disfiguring injury,” Whitney said. “I needed to stand up, eat, wash my hair, sleep, pay bills, and do all the tasks necessary to survive, when I would have preferred to turn to dust.”

Whitney used her profession as an occupational therapist and educator to explore grief as an occupation—the habits and routines of day-to-day living after a traumatic experience. Whitney observed her own grief through the lens of occupational justice, defined as having access to the full range of meaningful and enriching activities afforded to others. This includes social inclusion, as well as access to resources that facilitate participation and engagement in occupations that satisfy personal, health, and societal needs.

“Those who have experienced profound loss will read Habits of Widows and feel like a friend gets it,” says Ingenium Books publisher Boni Wagner-Stafford. “They’ll be comforted that someone made it through and see ideas for coping. If the reader knows someone who is grieving, they will understand how to be a better, more supportive human.”

“Waking up in the after-life—the life after the death of a loved one—is lonely,” says Whitney. “We are invisible there. The occupations that once brought order and meaning and purpose to our lives are disrupted.”

A stunningly written account of the interface between life before and life after the death of a loved one, Habits of Widows is set for release in early 2026. It will be Whitney’s first book with Ingenium Books.

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Media inquiries:

Boni Wagner-Stafford, publisher, Ingenium Books
boni@ingeniumbooks.com
 1-(647)-576-2434