I'm Jo Peck again
New Zealand Listener|May 25-31 2024
Four weeks after her 60th birthday, Jo Peck's husband of 25 years told her he was seeing someone else. In a new book, she details how shock and disbelief made way for happiness and contentment.
- SARAH CATHERALL
I'm Jo Peck again

On a cold Melbourne day one Queen's Birthday weekend, Jo Peck was about to go shopping with her husband of 25 years when he dropped a bombshell. It was four weeks after her 60th birthday, the couple had just finished a renovation project and she was looking forward to retiring and travelling with the man she had lived with for half her life, when he told her: "I'm seeing someone else."

Peck, a Melbourne-based copywriter, was even more devastated that at a time when she was feeling increasingly invisible as an ageing woman, her husband had fallen for a woman in her mid-30s.

The only way she could deal with her shock and heartbreak was to write about it, so she penned her thoughts and experiences in a journal, and the result was her inspiring, honest and at times hilarious memoir, Suddenly Single at Sixty.

Peck writes: "And suddenly, I am reduced to a cliché's wife. He's 62 and he's having an affair correction, he's 'in love' - with a girl young enough to be his child."

For 30 years, Peck had been one-half of a couple. They were Jo and "Rex" (a pseudonym). They went on adventurous cycling holidays and cared for guide dog puppies. They liked the same books and movies and travelling to the same places. They were part of a tight friendship group, their identities entwined by years of marriage and coupledom, and Peck writes that she felt like she was part of her husband's DNA.

But a fortnight after their 25th wedding anniversary, the marriage was over.

Although their relationship had never been smooth, she writes in her memoir, "I finally felt we were sailing into clear air".

Denne historien er fra May 25-31 2024-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prÞveperiode pÄ Magzter GOLD for Ä fÄ tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra May 25-31 2024-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prÞveperiode pÄ Magzter GOLD for Ä fÄ tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA NEW ZEALAND LISTENERSe alt
First-world problem
New Zealand Listener

First-world problem

Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.

time-read
3 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Applying intelligence to AI
New Zealand Listener

Applying intelligence to AI

I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.

time-read
2 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Nazism rears its head
New Zealand Listener

Nazism rears its head

Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.

time-read
2 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Staying ahead of the game
New Zealand Listener

Staying ahead of the game

Will the brave new world of bipartisanship that seems to be on offer with an Infrastructure Commission come to fruition?

time-read
4 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Grasping the nettle
New Zealand Listener

Grasping the nettle

Broccoli is horrible. It smells, when being cooked, like cat pee.

time-read
3 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Hangry? Eat breakfast
New Zealand Listener

Hangry? Eat breakfast

People who don't break their fast first thing in the morning report the least life satisfaction.

time-read
3 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Chemical reaction
New Zealand Listener

Chemical reaction

Nitrates in processed meats are well known to cause harm, but consumed from plant sources, their effect is quite different.

time-read
4 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Me and my guitar
New Zealand Listener

Me and my guitar

Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.

time-read
2 mins  |
September 9, 2024
Time is on my side
New Zealand Listener

Time is on my side

Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?

time-read
7 mins  |
September 9, 2024
The kids are not alright
New Zealand Listener

The kids are not alright

Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.

time-read
4 mins  |
September 9, 2024