Past the age of 60, widowhood mainly concerns women and typically lasts more than ten years, according to Le Monde, which spoke with four widows between the ages of 76 and 96.
Their accounts centre on whether those years amount to solitude that is chosen or endured, and on how such a long stretch of time is lived through, the paper says.
"Some manage to rebuild their lives. But you can count them on the fingers of one hand," the piece quotes, in a line carried in Le Monde's headline.
