This chapter demonstrates how coverage of the life cycle in the magazines was typically based on a number of assumptions: that marriage was always desirable or possible; that all women wanted to or could be mothers; and that a husband and wife would stay married. Locating women who deviated, either by virtue of circumstances or out of choice, is challenging. ‘Unmarried’ mothers are the exception, but only because they were often cited as a warning to readers. This chapter focuses on the ‘spinster’ and the widow. These single women were not perceived to pose a threat to the moral fabric of society (in comparison to the ‘unmarried’ mother), and they featured little in the magazines. When they did appear, stereotypes and traditional understandings were typically challenged, and readers were, in places, encouraged to re-evaluate their perceptions. Woman’s Way, for example, put a widow on the cover of the magazine and called for greater rights and recognition of her status. This was not done out of pity, but rather because of the emergence of an organised association of widows who exercised influence. Widows could no longer be ignored. The modern woman, living alone and building her career, was also celebrated in various features. The inclusion of these groups of women in the magazines offered alternatives to the traditional life cycle, providing a further challenge, albeit a subtle one, to the happy-homemaker ideology.