Women Home Alone: Learning to Thrive- Help for Single Women, Single Moms, Widows, and Wives Who Are Frequently Alone [Paperback]

Patricia Houck Sprinkle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1996

If you're single, divorced, widowed, or married to a husband who is often away, you know the frustrations of being alone. This book offers upbeat, hands-on guidance for self-sufficiency.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It would be difficult to find another book as detailed and complete in its subject area as this one is. All the spiritual and the practical problems women come up against in living alone are covered here without regard to whether "alone" means single, widowed, divorced or with a partner whose job often keeps him or her away from home. Using commonsense advice, Sprinkle deals with the myriad issues of childhood emergencies, finances, home and car repair, feelings of isolation and loneliness, all in a Christian context. There are numerous interviews with women who are alone, prayers are interspersed throughout, practical checklists appear and lists of recommended additional readings augment the whole. Because most women will, at one time or another, fall into the category of "living alone," even if only temporarily, most will both enjoy and benefit from this book.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Most women are unprepared to live alone, yet, by age 65, 41 percent of us can expect to do just that. Some are unmarried, widowed, divorced or single parents; others are married to men whose jobs keep them away for extended periods; the unluckiest have "loner" husbands who are present physically but not emotionally. These women might encounter isolation, inconvenience, indecision, lack of respect, loneliness and burnout. Sprinkle offers a lifeline by providing practical ways to deal with factors such as finances, safety, home repairs, parenting, and loneliness. The book takes on a Christian perspective as she draws on her own experiences as well as interviews with live-alone women who are active in church groups. A series of practical checklists for matters such as car maintenance and financial papers rounds out a useful, empathetic, energetic guide that encourages women to unearth the gold in "them thar" lonely hills. Patricia Hassler

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan Publishing House (March 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310201837
• ISBN-13: 978-0310201830
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,233,966 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A practical handbook and a source of encouragement, September 13, 2005

By 

Kelly E. Rodriguez "kellynluis" (Lovettsville, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Women Home Alone: Learning to Thrive- Help for Single Women, Single Moms, Widows, and Wives Who Are Frequently Alone (Paperback)

This book is an empowering and encouraging manual that will edify you on the first read, and then remain a valuable resource to have on the shelf!

It is written from a Christian point of view, though I think anyone would find it useful.

In reading it, one feels a comaraderie with the many women who have traveled this road before. Mrs. Sprinkle's insights on the myriad challenges of life alone are all valuable, yet this book also justifies its place on the shelf simply as a handbook for the most common DIY home & auto repairs one might encounter.

For very busy women, I also heartily recommend her better-known book, "Women Who Do Too Much." The life lessons she shares have remained with me through the last 12 years since I first read her books, and I frequently share them with women I meet.

This book makes a wonderful gift - I am buying a copy for my sister, a single grad student who just bought her first townhome.

4 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Overly religious, March 13, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Women Home Alone: Learning to Thrive- Help for Single Women, Single Moms, Widows, and Wives Who Are Frequently Alone (Paperback)

I made it through the first chapter but by chapter two the non-stop religious references were too much to handle. Every single page has some sort of religious reference which is a bit much, even though I live in the buckle of the Bible Belt. So down went the book not to be read any more.
However the Checklists for Women Home Alone at the end of the book are very useful and worth using as organizational reference.