I just finished The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, a short beautifully written novel about love, life and aging - At 77 years old, it certainly spoke to me & I have recommended to all my friends. 🩷
These bits in the Guardian interview are interesting.
"She wrote Hagitude – “hags with attitude” – when she was approaching 60, because she couldn’t see a place for older women in contemporary culture. “I didn’t know who I was supposed to be, and I wasn’t ready to give up. I was just starting,” she says."
"Her favourite mythical being is the Cailleach (“old woman” or hag in Scottish and Irish Gaelic), associated with winter and wilderness and as old as the land itself. “A very powerful role model for the challenges we face today,” she says."
"Her new book, Ripening, was written almost as a guidebook for our times. “The fairytale heroine always leaves home with catastrophe snapping at her heels,” she explains. “They’re walking out of the door with barely the clothes on their back. They literally have nothing. And yet somehow, through qualities of character, they get through and find a way to thrive.” Blackie is not interested in updating these stories for the modern reader. We don’t need fairytales about girls with smartphones glued to their hands, she argues in Ripening. “If we see a girl pricking her finger on a spindle and falling asleep for a hundred years, left all alone and vulnerable, then we see the same kind of curse at work in the world.”
See, here’s the problem with this list: where do you start? Heist novel? Japanese sense of beauty in old age?
Don’t worry, I’ll muddle through.
Ha! A happy problem.
I just finished The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, a short beautifully written novel about love, life and aging - At 77 years old, it certainly spoke to me & I have recommended to all my friends. 🩷
A treasure chest of gems. Thank you Sari!
Mastering the art of speed reading would be a great essay.
My husband Brian took a speed-reading course and he is the fastest reader I know!
I'm on it
I’m taking note of the books on aging. Thank you!
These all sound great! And thank you for including my novella Bicentennial Eve in Bookshelf #3!
My pleasure.
Sari, great list as always. I just came across this author and her works just seem like a great fit for the Oldster bookshelf. I haven't read them, but I plan to get Hagitude (what a terrific title, right?) and the new one, Ripening. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jul/18/hagitude-author-sharon-blackie-at-60-i-wasnt-ready-to-give-up-i-was-just-starting.
These bits in the Guardian interview are interesting.
"She wrote Hagitude – “hags with attitude” – when she was approaching 60, because she couldn’t see a place for older women in contemporary culture. “I didn’t know who I was supposed to be, and I wasn’t ready to give up. I was just starting,” she says."
"Her favourite mythical being is the Cailleach (“old woman” or hag in Scottish and Irish Gaelic), associated with winter and wilderness and as old as the land itself. “A very powerful role model for the challenges we face today,” she says."
"Her new book, Ripening, was written almost as a guidebook for our times. “The fairytale heroine always leaves home with catastrophe snapping at her heels,” she explains. “They’re walking out of the door with barely the clothes on their back. They literally have nothing. And yet somehow, through qualities of character, they get through and find a way to thrive.” Blackie is not interested in updating these stories for the modern reader. We don’t need fairytales about girls with smartphones glued to their hands, she argues in Ripening. “If we see a girl pricking her finger on a spindle and falling asleep for a hundred years, left all alone and vulnerable, then we see the same kind of curse at work in the world.”
Oooh, thank you for this, Jenny!
Many thanks, Sari, for adding my book Twentynine Palms to your highly regarded list.