I highlighted in both Chapter 4 and Chapter 8 the increasing recognition by gerontologists of the importance of historical location for understanding the experience of later life. In this chapter therefore, I discuss the multiple narratives derived from an analysis of the wider, historical, issues that are both explicit and implicit in the women's stories. These are yet another part of the jigsaw which makes up both the individual and the collective experience of later life widowhood. The narratives tell of events and structures as well as attitudes towards and opportunities for women at different times in their histories.