The Bookworm Beat: Seven years ago a single telephone call changed Jean Jones' life forever.

In 1999 Mrs. Jones and her husband Alan, originally from England, had been living in Bermuda for three years. Mr. Jones ran Freisenbruch-Meyer Services Ltd, a local insurance company and Mrs. Jones volunteered with local charities. On the evening of April 8, 1999, shortly before a quick game of tennis, Mr. Jones, 61, telephoned his wife after work to say that he would see her after the game. Thirty-five minutes later, Mrs. Jones received another telephone call, urging her to get down to the hospital right away.

When she arrived at the hospital, she learned that her husband had collapsed and died during the tennis game. He died instantly before a medical team could even get to him. Later, it was discovered that Mr. Jones had had several previous undiagnosed heart attacks.

'Lost in the Triangle' is the story of Mrs. Jones' journey through grief and loss and eventual healing.

"Bereavement is not normally the thing you talk about," Mrs. Jones told . She is now living in England again, but returns to Bermuda at least twice a year. "If nothing else, my book is keeping people talking about bereavement, which I think is a step forward. It is like a taboo subject and it shouldn't be."

The fact that nobody talks about it, means it is hard to know what to expect when tragedy strikes, she said.

In the book, Mrs. Jones wrote: "I never before appreciated the finality of death. It sounds nonsensical, but your life changes so much in one moment that it is impossible to comprehend and cope with this shock within a short period of time. Never before did I understand how long these adjustments take to make."

Soon after her husband died, Mrs. Jones sought the help of a volunteer grief counsellor, but it did not work out.

"It was too soon, and I wasn't ready," she said.

She knew she was ready to seek help one day, several months later, when she yelled at her four-year-old granddaughter over some trivial thing. Both of them started to cry.

"That is when I realised I needed a counsellor," she said. "I couldn't carry on that way. It was important that I find a counsellor that I could relate to."

She did find a good counsellor, something she highly recommends for other people in a similar situation.

Her counsellor is now lending 'Lost in the Triangle' to other clients who may benefit from knowing they are not alone in their experiences.

"I had a response from one 19-year-old girl who lost her grandmother," said Mrs. Jones. "It was really devastating for her, and she said reading the book helped her. It is hard to tell people how you are feeling.

"The biggest response to the book has been from people saying, 'I had no idea you were going through all of that'.

"But you keep it to yourself. You don't talk about it. After a few months people think you are almost back to normal, but you are not really."

Going to a counsellor let her talk to someone without feeling that she was imposing her grief on them.

The years in Bermuda for the Jones had been idyllic. She feels that in many ways the time in Bermuda was a gift for them, away from the busier life they'd led in England. In 1999, they were nearing retirement age, and their three children were all grown up and independent. They spent their time cycling as a couple. Mr. Jones loved tennis and rugby and Mrs. Jones became a volunteer at the Bermuda National Trust.

She helped with the research of a book about St. George's and she also helped with the archaeological dig in the Tucker House kitchen.

"When my children were small they would come home and say, 'and what did you do today?' I was a stay-at-home mother. I think they looked at me as someone who wasn't capable of doing much, or at least that's the way I felt. I would joke to them 'I went to Paris for lunch and I went on an archaeological dig'. I always really wanted to go on a dig. When the opportunity came up to help with an archaeological dig in the Tucker House kitchen, it was wonderful. It was like everything else in Bermuda ? just three years of me becoming a person again."

Because of her time spent volunteering with the Bermuda National Trust, she decided to give the Bermuda proceeds from the book to this charity.

A couple of years ago Mrs. Jones and her children planted an olive tree on the Waterville Property at the Bermuda National Trust, to remember their beloved father. It is now flourishing.

'Lost in the Triangle' is available from the Bermuda National Trust and from local bookstores.

It is also available in England. British sales from the book will go to a charity called 'Action Medical Research'.