When Karen Nelson’s husband died in the spring of 2007, she felt alone.

Nelson was widowed at 52; three years younger than the national average. Her husband, Jeffrey, was only 50 when he died of brain cancer.

Nelson attended a bereavement group, which she said helped some, but after more than two years, she began searching online for a way to connect with people suffering the same type of loss. She came upon the website of Miriam Neff, author of “From One Widow to Another: Conversations on the New You.”