good fiction about 45-55 year old women?

Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler

Carol Shields book Happenstance is very good. It's actually two stories in one, both told over the same five days, one from the POV of the husband and the other from the POV of the wife.

It's set in the '70's in Chicago and Philadelphia and covers the trip Brenda Bowman makes to a craft convention, where one of her quilts is up for an award, and Jack is left at home to take care of their teenage children.

There's so much more to it, Jack feels like his time spent writing his novel has been wasted, Brenda feels like she is not being taken seriously as a woman or a person, they both have to make decisions about their marriage and it's just a very good book with very good characters.

I second Apple Tree Yard. It's the book I came on to recommend. One to make you think.

Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty. A middle-aged woman has an affair...

Judy, I've enjoyed your books

Some Helen Simpson stories are about women of this age.

Also there's Deborah Moggach, Margaret Drabble, Barbara Kingsolver, I think they all write about women of this age, among others.

My latest favourite books about a woman of this age are The year of the Flood and Maddaddam (where my username is from) by Margarat Atwood - Toby is that age and she's the central character in both books, though she isn't juggling work and children or eldercare, she's busy coping with dystopia etc.

think not thing. Derrr.

I've written 18 published contemporary novels (as Judy Astley - all available via Transworld publishers or Amazon) and I don't thing there's one of them that DOESN'T feature a woman from 45-55 as a main character (possibly not the first two of mine maybe, but then I was younger then!). Also, have a look at Fanny Blake and Elizabeth Buchan's books. Best wishes to all and happy reading.

Just realised, the Diary of a Provincial Lady books might appeal - in the first one she would be about 40 and has young children, they grow up over the series.

I was going to suggest the VI Warshawski novels by Sara Paretsky. I'm pretty sure she is in her mid - late 40s for most of the series. She's divorced with no children though, and her problems generally involve dead people / industrial espionage rather than aging parents/teenage kids .

I don't care about the age or gender of characters in novels. As long as they're interesting and it's a good story well written, I couldn't give the proverbial whether the main character is an young girl, an old man, a middle-aged gay man or whatever.

Quangle I got an old copy which combined both books. Helene Hanff got to meet my idol Joyce Grenfell!
The film is fab too!

gerardbutler v good suggestion re 84 Charing Cross Road and sequel. I love those books.

The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud is fantastic. She's in her 40s, and not 'likeable' but a fascinating character.

Have you looked at the Persephone Books list? www.persephonebooks.co.uk/books/ Lots of fantastic stuff on there.

84 Charing Cross Road fits into this.......... A middle aged lady corresponding with a man who works in a bookshop. Then the sequel The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street!

Doesn't quite fit the bill - but 'The Parasites' by Daphne du Maurier might also be worth looking at. Mid life ennui/crisis amongst privileged siblings.

Anita Brookner. Also Patricia Atkinson's biographical books about making a success of a vineyard in Provence after her husband left her at the beginning of his dream.

'Breathing Lessons' - Anne Tyler

blurb from back cover: 'Breathing Lessons covers the events of a day in the life of Maggie Moran, nearing fifty, married to Ira with two children. Her eternal optimism and her inexhaustible passion for sorting out other people's lives and willing them to fall in love is severely tested one hot summer day...'

Just re-read it. Loved it completely.

'Family Album' - Penelope Lively.

I'm writing one. It will be ready in 10 years (optimistic estimate)

There is an age gap. I have never realised that but probably because I read more crime type stories that are not particularly female-focussed.

I hated The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year, thought every character in it was a self-indulgent twat. Sorry

But yes you have a good point OP. the 'great American novelists' have male protagonists this age, still having affairs because they are, of course, so desirable...

Many fewer women characters that I can think of. Perhaps Anita Brookner's characters are this age but they are all dreary, lonely ladies who take rooms in hotels and look at the curtains thoughtfully, if I recall correctly.

Margaret Forster is v good for this space. I read 'Have the men had enough?' years ago and it's still with me.

Yes there is a gap...I'm in the 45-55 group. :-) How about Anne Tyler, the late Carol Shields, Alice Munro or Tessa Hadley? All cover family life but tend to be more centred on children in their late teens, or who have left home, married. Others, William Trevor, Elizabeth Taylor or Elizabeth Bowen.

Sorry Forester

Was just about to suggest the woman who went to bed for a year.

Personally I thought Eloise was the worst book I've ever read, it was like an 11 year old's attempt at an essay. Can't believe her editor let that be published!