This article addresses the issue of the loss of identity a woman experiences when she becomes a widow. Based on an analysis of published autobiographical accounts of widowhood, it looks at how women express their experience of losing their husbands. It explicates a process of ‘identity foreclosure’ which strips a woman of her identity at every level, and the process by which the authors of these accounts have built new identities. Extensive quoting from the published accounts reveals the richness of these data and provides a feeling for the emotional impact of widowhood that women experience.