Ode to the undiscovered country beyond menopause

• Book: Woman of a Certain Rage
• Location: Stratford-upon-Avon
• Author: Georgie Hall

Review Author: KathyGates

I love reading books set in places that I’ve never been to in which the main character experiences things I’ve never experienced.

I’ve never been to Stratford-Upon-Avon and I’ve never been on a narrow boat so that’s two ticks. No husbands or kids, more ticks. I was once fifty, though, and have been through menopause.

Georgie Hall’s pace is as fast as her heroine’s complicated life. One minute we’re in the midst of Eliza Finch’s latest challenge and then we’ve gone back in time to discover something from her past which links, however tenuously, to her latest potential disaster. There are many laugh-out loud moments, my favourite involves the memory of her own mother’s fiftieth birthday party.

After reading Woman of a Certain Rage, I want to visit Shakespeare’s birthplace and glide along scenic waterways–providing someone else is there to steer my passage. What hidden dangers lie beneath the placid waters? And those locks– negotiating them, not for the faint-hearted. Or are they cunning metaphors for the other two big Ms: Marriage and Motherhood?

Woman of a Certain Rage is about Eliza’s search for her true self, and about yearning for the place beyond hot flushes, foggy heads and night sweats. Been there, done that but this time around, enjoyed the ride.

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