Since I got no time or energy on my German trip to read anything serious, I read “middle-aged-lady lit,” which is like chick lit for women my age. This means that all the protagonists are 42 or 43. Nobody my age wants to read about youngsters because the glorification of youth gets tiresome after a while. Besides, it’s boring to read about people trying to solve problems you solved a million years ago.
The two “middle-aged-lady lit” novels I read on my trip are Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughn (bought at Heathrow) and The Last Mrs Parrish by Liv Constantine (bought on one of the transfers.) Both novels constitute a very enjoyable, undemanding, relaxing reading. Given that one is about rape and another about egregious forms of domestic abuse, it sounds very bizarre to call them relaxing. But this is the whole purpose of “middle-aged-lady lit.” It helps middle-aged ladies of enough leisure to read these books to process traumatic issues in a non-traumatic way.
If you have to choose one, I recommend Mrs Parrish. The other one had too much in the way of the British class issues and the horribleness of the British aristocrats. I’m sure they are plenty nasty but that idea, too, gets old after a while. Both novels are heavy into “the very rich and the very poor are total sociopaths” narrative.
I want to read more in this genre, so let me know if you’ve been impressed by novels with middle-aged female protagonists. I’m not picky about what these protagonists do. I just want to be entertained.
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