Lifestyle
Book club: 10 new books to help you make the most of midlife
As we’re all discovering, far from staid and boring, the middle years of our lives are often a period of great change. Allison Tait finds 10 books to help you best navigate the upheaval.
By Allison Tait
Have you experienced your ‘coming of middle age’ yet? Somewhere in these sandwich years of dealing with children and ageing parents, there is a period where we are forced to confront the realities of our own lives, find new purpose and reinvent a new way forward into the future.
Or so a whole new genre of fiction would have us believe.
If you haven’t quite got to the ‘reinvention’ bit of the journey, we’ve found 5 novels and 5 non-fiction titles to help pave the way.
Fiction
The Rest of our Lives by Benjamin Markovits
What happens once the nest is empty? That’s the question that 55-year-old law professor Tom Layward is asking himself as he takes his youngest daughter to university. And it’s a loaded question because, as Tom tells us in the first paragraph, 12 years earlier his wife Amy had an affair – and Tom promised himself he’d leave once his youngest went to college. What follows is a solo road trip, narrated by Tom, a quiet reflection on the past and a consideration of the future.
Crush (A novel) by Ada Calhoun
Using her own experiences as a jumping off point, Calhoun explores the different avenues of modern marriage. When a husband asks his wife to consider what might be missing from their marriage, what follows surprises them both – and not always in a good way. Described by the New York Times as ‘a polyamory novel for Generation X’, Crush the book is promoted as ‘autofictional’ and has a journal-like feel.
Lessons In Love at the Seaside Salon by Sophie Green
‘Four women. Four loves. Four life-changing stories.’ Sophie Green once again weaves together a tapestry of engaging characters, this time in a little hairdressing salon on the NSW Central Coast. Each of the characters – Trudy, 57, Anna, 42, Evie, 33, and Josie, 19 – is dealing with change in their lives and Green expertly brings their stories together in an uplifting read. Publishing July 2025.
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
If you’ve ever felt caught between growing children and ageing parents, this surprisingly funny novel might help. Rachel – in her 50s and affectionately known as Rocky – is on her annual family vacation in Cape Cod with her husband and 2 grown-up children. When the family is joined by Rocky’s elderly parents, she finds herself sandwiched between them all. “I am standing dead centre, still and balanced. Living kids on one side, living parents on the other… don’t move a muscle, I think. But I will, of course. You have to.” Exploring menopause, anxiety, loss and more, it’s an engaging and relatable story.
‘Time Together’ by Luke Horton
A group of old friends, now in their 40s, get together at a beach house for the first time in ages with the aim to ‘have a good time’ – but can the friendships of our youth survive the pressures of middle-age? Luke Horton’s character-driven second novel Time Together examines the ways that different experiences, ambitions and values impact on longterm friendships, and looks at whether a shared history is enough to bind people together.
Non-fiction
A Wisdom of Age by Jacinta Parsons
Writer, broadcaster, and speaker Jacinta Parsons has talked to older women from around the country and from all walks of life about their experiences of ageing – and how to do it right. The result is an uplifting and inspiring book that offers a new and different story about growing older.
Your One Wild and Precious Life: An inspiring guide to becoming your best self at any age by Maureen Gaffney
Described as a ‘ground-breaking new framework for embracing middle age and beyond’, this book takes the inspiration for its title from the Mary Oliver poem ‘The Summer Day’.
‘Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?’
– Mary Oliver
Dr Maureen Gaffey is a clinical psychologist, writer and broadcaster. She states that her aim for this book is to ‘provide you with a psychological framework within which your own development as a person can be more deeply understood, a grid on which you can locate key events in your life that have an emotional resonance and linger in your memory.’ By understanding yourself and the patterns in your life, she reasons, you will be better able to meet new challenges in this new chapter.
Secrets of Adulthood: Simple truths for our complex lives by Gretchen Rubin
The author of ‘The Happiness Project’ is back, drilling down into complicated subjects and making them manageable. In this book, Rubin turns to the aphorism – the ancient literary discipline of conveying a large truth in a few words – to convey the simple truths within the complexities.
Examples include:
- "Recognise that, like sleeping with a big dog in a small bed, things that are uncomfortable can also be comforting"
- "Accept yourself, expect more from yourself"
- "Easy children raise good parents"
- "What can be done at any time is often done at no time"
If you find yourself nodding in recognition at these, this book is for you! On Kindle now, hardcover available July 2025.
The Next Day: Transitions, change and moving forward by Melinda French Gates
No matter how old you are or who you are, change is a part of life – as Melinda French Gates can attest. In this deeply personal book, she writes about everything from the joyful upheaval of becoming a parent to the death of a close friend, her divorce and her departure from the Gates Foundation. Along the way, she explores the nature of transition and offers guidance for navigating change.
Mother Mary Comes To Me by Arundhati Roy
The first memoir from Booker prize-winning author Arundhati Roy explores her life as it was shaped by circumstance, and by her complex relationship to the mother she describes as ‘my shelter and my storm’. Born out of the onrush of memories and feelings provoked by her mother Mary’s death, this is memoir written as only Arundhati Roy could write it.
Allison Tait is a bestselling author, dedicated reader and co-founder of the Your Own Next Read and Your Kids Next Read Facebook groups. Find her on Instagram.
All book images sourced from Amazon, used with permission. Citro may receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using the links in this article.
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