Elaine Kingett’s relationship with her mother was not always easy but in this moving piece she tells how, after her mother died, she discovered the real person behind the parent.

Elaine Kingett was 60, didn't smoke and had low cholesterol, so was stress to blame when she had a heart attack?

Elaine Kingett’s husband loved art, books, collecting… Ten years after his death, she experiences the pain and the pleasure his possessions have the power to conjure.

We all wonder if courses or coaching can make a difference, so a year after Elaine Kingett experienced the Hoffman Process – which promises to help you let go of the past and create the sort of future you desire – we asked her what had changed in her life.

Most of us feel a bit strange when the kids finally leave home, but when you're a single parent, says Elaine Kingett, the silence is deafening

When Elaine Kingett found love again in her fifties, the next step was to move in together – or was it? She shares her story

Could 3 days, £300 and an unplanned solo break bring happiness?

When Elaine Kingett needed a break she didn't choose long haul, she just jumped in her car…

Elaine Kingett found the emotional challenge of selling the family home as tricky as the clearing out and packing up

When your life goes into free fall, not all your friends take flight. Elaine Kingett writes about the people who stick around to see you through.

Elaine Kingett, 57, has often written movingly about being widowed, internet dating and younger men. She never imagined she'd write this story

I am a widow. Now, be honest. What does that conjure up? Grey hair? Bus pass? Evenings in front of the telly with a cup of cocoa? Certainly not sex. You don't get a booklet on that, you see. There's one on claiming your pension, another on bereavement counselling, but where's the one on suddenly being single after 30 years with the same bloke who you fancied to the end?

Click to download a PDF of this short story.