Midlife Madness: on women and ageing

Join us for an exploration of ageing and womanhood through fiction.

What makes middle-aged women such interesting characters? Are middle-aged women actually mad, or is it that by the time they reach 45, they’re no longer prepared to put up with the same old same old and are instead determined to bring about real-life change?

45 Things follows the story of Charlie, an unfulfilled, dissatisfied, perimenopausal 44-year-old woman as she aims to complete a list of 45 things to do before she’s 45 in the hope that it will fix her problems. From Eat an oyster, Take up parkour, Read War and Peace, to Take ecstasy, Try stand-up comedy…the list covers a lot of bases. With the help of her best friends Cath (single, bluntly honest and desperate for a child) and Emily (eternally positive, even with a terrible husband who’s in the process of leaving her), Charlie sets about completing the list before her 45th birthday, thinking it will help her find her new place in the world and give her some much-needed fun along the way. But the list turns out to give Charlie a lot more than she bargained for and pushes her in ways she’d never imagined, blowing up her relationships and ultimately leading to a full life revaluation. Key themes and discussion points are mainly centred around perimenopause (and the madness of not necessarily knowing that’s what it is that’s causing the madness!), female friendships and the load/sacrifice involved in bringing up children.

After a brief (but fun) stint working in television and as a primary school teacher, Julia Tuffs decided to take her writing dreams more seriously. She lives in South-West London with her family and ragdoll cats (Billy and Nora) and spends her time writing, reading, dreaming of holidays and watching too much reality TV. She aims to write the kinds of books that will have people laughing out loud – and crying – on their commute. Her young adult novel, HEXED, was nominated for the Laugh Out Loud Awards, and its sequel, TWICE HEXED won the children’s category at the Isle Of Wight Book Awards.

Bad Manners by Amy Beashel

Would it kill you to smile, darling? Perhaps… A men-only charity dinner. A clutch of young waitresses. The jokes are uncomfortable.

The hands linger. The collars loosen. Behind closed doors, the wine flows.

The night is dark. The faces blur. The memories warp.

Behind closed doors, the money flows. But revenge is sweet and justice is a burning flame. Behind closed doors, the blood flows… A fierce and addictive read about lust and power, the love we want versus the love we take, and the tinderbox secrets that hide so well in the heart of families, this is the searing new novel from the author of Spilt Milk.

Amy Beashel

Having shoe-horned the phrase “finding her own self-worth” into every possible English-literature essay from GSCE through to university, it’s no wonder that Amy is now writing books featuring female protagonists who are fiercely attempting to do just that. She likes dark stories, complex characters and hopeful (but not too tidy) endings. 
Her debut novel for young adults, THE SKY IS MINE, was nominated for the Carnegie and Branford Boase awards and shortlisted for the Bristol Teen Book Awards. Her subsequent teen and adult novels have since been described in the press as “slyly funny” (The Guardian), “compelling” The Daily Mail, and “unflinching [with an] acerbic wit” (Company), all traits Amy is actively cultivating in real life too.

We apologise for the inconvenience but our bookshop is currently not wheelchair accessible. 

The toilets are located on the ground floor. 

The event space/bookroom café is located at the top of a staircase (17 steps).

Please do get in touch if you’d like to know more details to plan your visit ahead. 

Email is: salomee@kemptownbookshop.co.uk