Books to emotionally and intellectually nourish "older women"
1/1/26
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A new review, of The Correspondent , is available on the “Reviews-Fiction page” of olderwomenandliterature.blogspot.com
Happy New Year – and Happy Reading!
Deborah
Evensong, by Stewart O’Nan. Grove Press, 2025. 293 pages.
In modern-day Pittsburgh, a group of women in their ’80’s and 90’s volunteer to connect those in need with those able to help – running errands, picking up prescription, making hospital visits – as they deal with their own aging, relationships, loneliness, fear, and friendships.
12/15/25
The Botanist’s Assistant, by Peggy Townsend. Berkley Books, 11/18/25. 304 pages
Margaret Finch, 54 years old, has been the research manager for a brilliant botanist for 10 years. Tall and ungainly, she is known as “Big Bird” to the students and staff at the university laboratory where she works. But she is reasonably happy, believing in the work she is doing, and doing it extremely well. Then her beloved professor is found dead in his office. Was it a natural death? Margaret thinks not, and in her obsessive, careful way, investigates.
11/17/25
Joyride, by Susan Orlean. Simon & Schuster, 2025. 368 pages.
Acclaimed non-fiction writer Susan Orlean turns her keen eye and curiosity on her own life.
Please see “Reviews – Non-Fiction”
A new biography of an exemplary and eccentric feminist
Winning the Earthquake: How Jeanette Rankin Defied All Odds to Become the First Woman in Congress, by Lorissa Rinehart. St. Martin’s Press, 2025. 342 pages.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advance readers copy of this book.
Despite its rather obscure and long title, this biography of early 20th century feminist and crusader Jeanette Rankin is written with zest and evocative language, and only occasionally some melodrama.
Please see “Reviews – Non-Fiction
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Heart of A Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging, by Angela Buchdahl. Pamela Dorman Books/Viking/Random House, 2025. 342 pages.
I learned a great deal from Rabbi Angela Buchdahl’s eloquent memoir, which shares her experiences and insights as the first East Asian-American rabbi to be ordained in America. At the end of each chapter, she includes a “dvar,” (explication) of vital Jewish values, and in doing so shares the complexity of these ideas in clear and moving words and examples.
Please see “Reviews – Non-Fiction”
When the Cranes Fly South, by Lisa Ridzen, Translated from Swedish by Alice Menzies. Vintage, 2025. 320 pages.
88 year-old Bo, in failing health, and his adult son struggle with the care of Bo’s beloved elkhound, in a story that recounts Bo’s dreams and memories of his long life. This moving book raises Issues of agency and control, as well as how love and care are expressed over time.
8/27/25
Murder at Gulls Nest, by Jess Kidd. Atria Books, 2025. 333 pages.
Set in 1950’s England, this is an absorbing mystery filled with odd and engaging characters, most notably, a middle-aged nun recently released from her vows.
Fun for the Whole Family, by Jennifer E. Smith. Ballantine Books, 4/8/25. 368 pages.
The endearing, enduring Endicott’s: Four siblings in their late 30’s and early 40’s, who virtually raised themselves under the oldest sister’s guidance, gather after a three year estrangement.
8/15/25
Spectacular Things, by Beck Dorey-Stein – set in American women’s soccer
The Homemade God, by Rachel Joyce – England, Italy and the art world.
Please see “Reviews, Fiction”