Synopses & Reviews
In Single Woman of a Certain Age, Jane Ganahl assembles a chorus of sophisticated, edgy, and humorous voices who tackle the topic of being unmarried and in one's prime. Chronicling the (mostly) ups and (sometimes) downs of the chronically 39, these writers address the challenges and rewards of growing older as a single woman: sex, loneliness, motherhood, learning to live alone (and happily), financial struggles or blossoming careers, menopause, and more. With infectious humor and emotional honesty, these essays show how women learn to come into their own, bucking the realities of how society treats the older female who's alone. Swinging between desperation and optimism, bad moods and good grace, the 25 contributions here range from the mild to the wild, the glamorous to the mundane, each expressing the gifts and travails of going solo, whether chosen or forced.
Review
This collection of essays shows that writers know plenty about love—how it works, when it works, when it doesnt, and why its not always the be-all and end-all of a womans emotional life. Growing older solo is fraught with challenges but also with opportunities.”
—Hartford Courant
Synopsis
Ganahl assembles a chorus of 38 sophisticated, edgy, and humorous voices who tackle the topic of being unmarried and in one's prime.
Synopsis
This timely book assembles a chorus of sophisticated, edgy, and humorous voices on the topic of being unmarried in ones prime. Far from being out to pasture, these writers zestily take on the challenges and enjoy the rewards of growing older as a single woman: sex (or not), occasional loneliness, single motherhood, second careers, menopause, critter comforts, and more. Joyce Maynard (fifteen years divorced and pushing fifty with a short stick”) tries online dating, Kathi Kamen Goldmark embraces her newly empty nest, Susan Griffin savors the joys of solo travel, Wendy Merrill dumps a younger lover to save her self-esteem, Diane Mapes prefers the joys of aunthood over motherhood, Ms. Gonick dates a sexy (if uneducated) cowboy, and Rachel Toor finally finds the perfect companion—and he has four legs.
About the Author
Editor Jane Ganahl is the author of the novelized memoir Naked on the Page: The Misadventures of My Unmarried Midlife. She has written for the Huffington Post, Match.com, Book, Harpers Bazaar, Rolling Stone, and other publications. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.