Aging Fiction

This award-winning anthology of poetry and prose takes a new look at being a woman - particularly an aging woman - in a society that prizes and glorifies youth. The works are by both younger writers looking forward in time and writers who have experienced the joys and challenges of growing older. This international best seller was put together by editor Sandra Martz who selected the collection's pieces from thousands of submitted manuscripts.

The Bennett Women is an absorbing portrayal of three women who are at a crossroad with one another and the world around them. Muriel Bennett is a feisty eighty-two-year-old artist who struggles to maintain her independence. For the past forty years, she has happily resided at her Oregon lakefront home. She wants to live on her terms, but soon discovers how little control she has over her life. Susanne Bennett is a fifty-four-year-old CEO of a Fortune 500 technology company located in California. She leads more than three hundred thousand employees worldwide, but has little influence over ...

Storm Winds is the third book in the Home to Clare Harbor series. It is the continuing story of family, friends, and strangers who are drawn together by forces over which they have no control. They have weathered what many believed to be the storm of the century. Now they face a storm of another kind that could pose an even greater threat. Senator Gareth Dyersen is determined to do everything in his power to insure the safety of everyone who has taken refuge in his mountain home. They are his family, friends who over the years have become family, and strangers who are now friends. Then he ...

The notorious baby boomers - the largest age cohort in history - are approaching the end and starting to plan their final moves in the game of life. Now they are asking: What was that all about? Was it about acquiring things or changing the world? Was it about keeping all your marbles? Or is the only thing that counts after you're gone the reputation you leave behind?

As an adult, National Public Radio foreign correspondent Jacki Lyden has spent her life on the front lines of some of the world's most dangerous war zones. As a child, she lived in a war zone of a different kind. Her mother, Dolores, suffered from what is now called manic depression. In her manic phases, Dolores became Marie Antoinette or the Queen of Sheba, exotically delusional, yet to young Jacki also transcendent, even inspiring. In time, Jacki grew to accept, even relish, Dolores' bizarre episodes, marveling at her mother's creative energy and using it to fuel her own.

Ash thinks his life is erasing itself. Friends and loved-ones have either died or run away to their own lives. Everything he's known about life is disappearing. Even the letters on the liquor store where he works are blinking out, LIQUOR becoming LIQUO becoming LIQU becoming LIQ. And now Ash's wife may be dying. The doctor says she is, but Ash is not about to let her go. No, he will not let her be erased, too. Then a neighbor asks a favor . . .

An old man enters confession for the first time in 50 years and tells the priest he has only three sins to confess, all sins of the flesh, and the confession opens up the byways of human identity and human relationships as it weaves the tale of the three sins.

At some point in everyone's life, everyone will be placed in the position of dealing with the death of a loved one. Arranging all the necessary details at such a difficult time can prove overwhelming. However, help is now at hand in this guide that covers all the essential aspects. Drawing from the counsel of funeral directors, clergy, attorneys, estate planners, and psychologists and with references to Web sites and other sources of further information, this book provides straightforward and reassuring advice that is both practical and comforting at this difficult time.

Oh no! A decade birthday is approaching, one with a big "0" in it, and he's losing it. Wake-up call required. Coulda. Woulda. Shoulda. Marvin Baines seemingly has it all: a loving family and a great job. He is about to turn forty, and just like that, the realization hits him--his own mortality is straight up the road. That's not his only problem. Suddenly he is unable to distinguish fantasy from reality, and his often quirky decision-making causes his whole life to begin to unravel. All he wants is an escape from his humdrum life. What he gets is something quite unexpected. "The humour is ...

A razor-sharp story collection from a writer who is always "furiously good" (Zadie Smith, best-selling author of Swing Time). With her signature humor and compassion, A.M. Homes exposes the heart of an uneasy America in this collection - exploring our attachments to each other through characters who aren't quite who they hoped to become, though there is no one else they can be.

Tassen siempre ha sido perro de un solo hombre. Y desde que murió el Mayor Thorkildsen, se ha visto obligado a entenderse con la anciana viuda de éste. Ambos echan de menos al Mayor y por las noches, frente al resplandor de un buen fuego, se consuelan leyendo sobre la expedición de Roald Amundsen al Polo Sur, que culminó con éxito gracias a las decenas de intrépidos perros de Groenlandia que el aventurero noruego decidió llevar consigo. Cuando el hijo y la nuera del Mayor planean quedarse con la casa, Tassen y la señora Thorkildsen, inspirándose en los audaces perros de Amundsen.

All of us are familiar with the fairy tales of youth where the young hero and heroine fall in love, defeat their enemies, marry, and live happily ever after. The fairy tales gathered here are about what happens next, when the Prince goes bald and the Princess has a midlife crisis. They portray middle-aged men and women facing the special issues dealing with crisis, aging and mortality, and the desire for renewal.

What began as a singular letter in response to a younger family member standing on the precipice of her 60th birthday and asking the age-old question, 'What’s it like to be old?,' soon turned into one full year of unsent reflections, wonderment and curiosity of a life truly lived. Out of these reflections, New York Times-bestselling author Sophy Burnham developed this short, storytelling collection of unsent letters that offer listeners of all ages hope and happiness, and new ways to perceive our later years.

At twenty-seven years-old, George Fairweather is “the voice of his generation”, a poet whose talent has garnered him accolades from the literary establishment and homage from the disenfranchised “hippie” youth of the late 1960’s.George is the embodiment of the times with his long hair, rebellious attitude and regular use of mind-expanding psychedelic drugs.Then the sudden and tragic death of Fallon, his friend, his muse and his lover shatters his world, his sanity and nearly ends his life.Katherine is the one person who stands between George and destruction. A hanger-on, a groupie...

Close to turning eighty, in the midst of a demographic winter, the millennial Ebenezer Espósito urgently needs to hire a prepaid nursing home. He doesn’t want just any nursing home... he wants the one with the best care, since he has no children to oversee his care. Fortunately, he has found the right place, where every detail will be taken into account. A short story of social satire about the problem faced by many communities that have entered the process of demographic winter.

The information in To Die Well is both comforting and empowering. Knowing our rights to refuse treatment, as well as legal ways to bring about death if pain or distress cannot be alleviated, will spare us the frightening helplessness that can rob our last days of meaning and connection with others.

Master acupuncturist Dianne Connelly has written a paean to healthy living. But the book is less about health than about wisdom. With her own definitions and explications of essential words to live by, with poetry such as filled her previous book, All Sickness Is Homesickness, and with personal stories from her own life and the lives of those she has treated, Dianne points the way to a life of spirit and courage.

In Bedside Witness, Adams shares stories from her 20-year journey in hospice, geriatric mental health, palliative care, and dementia coaching. Through the intimate lens as a social worker, Kay artfully draws us into these heartfelt tales as if she were sitting with us at our kitchen table, tenderly weaving the laughter, grief, wonder, wisdom, and tragedy of our shared human experience.

Nicole and André, a retired French couple, take a summer holiday to Russia. It is the 1960s and Russia is a beautiful, complicated place. Their guide is Macha, André's daughter from a previous relationship - a woman they both love. Adventure, inspiration, good food and good vodka are promised. Once thrilled by their romance, Nicole and André have now become too used to each other. Both harbour a growing feeling of not being fully understood - of being alone.

Do you remember that moment you looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize the face? Do you feel like time is flying by and you’re caught in its wings? This honest, straight from the soul book will resonate with every woman who’s struggled with growing older. A witty and sharp observer of life, Jane H. Goldman reveals her fears and thoughts about growing older and freeing herself from the expectations of others. In these beautiful and cleverly written essays and poetry, you’ll find insights and inspiration for your own journey and living a life without regrets.