Marvellous MIDDLE AGE

Two authors reveal why they’re standing up for middle-aged women and how their own experiences have inspired their work

- GILLIAN HARVEY, TRACY BLOOM

Women at midlife often complain about feeling invisible. Stories abound of women being overlooked at work, or written off when they return to the workplace after a break. And anyone who’s raised children will be more than familiar with the fact that their mobile phones get a lot more attention than you do. Sometimes it can feel as if women just fade into the background in midlife.

Luckily, there are plenty of brilliant women out there fighting against this stereotype, including two authors who have used their own experiences to inspire their upcoming novels and tackle this theme head-on.

Perfect on Paper by Gillian Harvey, tells the story of Clare, a successful businesswoman and mum who appears to be living the perfect life, but who feels completely overlooked.

‘The novel was actually inspired by my kids,’ says Gillian, 42. ‘I’d ask them a question and they’d literally blank me sometimes! I used to say “chocolate” just to test whether they could actually hear me – they’d always respond to that! I began to see what women meant when they said they felt invisible sometimes, and wanted to write about that frustration – but in a funny, empowering way.’

Bestselling author Tracy Bloom, 50, also takes a look at the problem of middle-aged invisibility in her new novel The Wife Who Got a Life.

‘It’s easy as a woman to feel obsolete once your children grow up and don’t need you as much,’ says Tracy. ‘Women have often lived their lives caring for others, and suddenly there’s all this time and it’s hard to know which direction to take.’