At a writing conference awhile back, I attended a seminar on the stories of older women—older meaning midlife and beyond—and the gist was: Well, there aren’t many. Let’s make more.
This seminar was memorable because of the boisterous, we-will-go-forth-and-spread-the-word energy it generated among the attendees, including me. Ever since that session, when I come across a female protagonist who has a real, aging body with sags and wrinkles, and who’s lived long enough to have a few regrets but also the wisdom and determination to change what she can, I am more appreciative. Tales of midlife transition—bring ‘em on!
Last Saturday night, with the TV room all to myself, I uncorked a Shiraz and watched Cairo Time. Juliette (played by one of my faves, Patricia Clarkson), a journalist who’s contentedly married, experiences not just pyramids but a long-buried part of herself. It’s been promoted as a romance, but in my view the movie is less about a love affair than it is about a heart—a middle-aged heart that’s rejuvenated. The Globe and Mail, while acknowledging that Cairo Time aims for subtly, complains the movie “seems to be making too much of too little.” I agree it’s a “quiet” film, but it’s these quiet stories that can lead to moments of reflection after the credits roll, and perhaps to deep conversation with a close friend over coffee the next day.
Another quiet story of a woman in midlife unfolds in the novel Delivery, by Betty Jane Hegerat. Protagonist Lynn kidnaps her young daughter’s baby and arrives on a B.C. island with her grandchild in a laundry basket and no plan. While figuring out what to do next, Lynn reviews her own life so far. Her daughter, Heather, shows up and it’s up to Heather to make the decision regarding the baby’s adoption. But by the end of the novel we sense our middle-aged heroine Lynn has also made a decision: to live the rest of her own life more fully. There’s no happily-ever-after, it’s a story of transition and like most real-life transitions it comes without fireworks. But it’s the kind of story that stays with you after the last page.
What are your favourite stories of midlife or older women? Please tell me. I want more.
(And, yes, I’m writing one myself, a story about several women dealing with midlife.)
For more: Delivery and Cairo Time.
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I’ve always had a soft spot for Hagar, the
narrator of The Stone Angel, by Margaret Laurence. I read that novel in
first year university (a very long time ago) but that’s one character whose
story has stayed with me.
I vote for The Mermaid’s Chair, by Sue Monk
Kidd. I loved the novel, and I probably enjoyed it even more because of the
fact I read it while house-sitting a friend’s lake-country cottage (which,
of course, came with a comfy reading chair and SOLITUDE–something I have
truly appreciated since turning 40.)
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