Coming of Age...Again - Carol Mizrahi - guest review

Irene, Barbara, Rochelle and Sylvia have been friends since Kindergarten and have remained so through all kinds of ups and downs.  Now in their early sixties when life should be fairly settled they find themselves in turmoil. 

Rochelle has spent her life pleasing others and doing as she’s told but now finds that she doesn’t really want to spend the rest of her life being an unthanked childminder for her grandchildren and taken for granted by just about everyone she knows but can she take control of her own life?

Uncurable romantic Irene has been looking for the perfect man since her husband died and thinks she has found him, until he moves in with her...is there ever such a thing as the perfect man or does true love mean accepting some flaws too?

Barbara has had a very comfortable lifestyle even if it meant looking the other way whilst her husband played around but when she discovers his latest love interest she becomes worried that this time it might be permanent...What can she do to stop it?

Sylvia, pessimistic and unhappy lives with her daughter and a fear that she is going to choke to death if she lives alone.  Each time daughter Mary has a boyfriend Sylvia manages to frighten him off when she invites him for dinner but what will she do if Mary decides to move out.  Can she survive alone?

It’s not often you read about women in their sixties and certainly not women like these four; they are feisty and full of life, definitely not ready for assisted living and Meals on Wheels!  This novel shows that there is life after 60 and that no matter what age you are life is always full of surprises and you can still achieve what you want to achieve.  Sylvia, Irene, Barbara and Rochelle are very realistic characters, quirky and lively and their problems are everyday true to life problems which readers will recognise and relate to and which are handled with, sometimes dark, humour and insight.

Definitely a novel I would recommend; I found it very enjoyable and different.  Light hearted yet serious and, often, genuinely very funny. It was a refreshing change to read about some women in their sixties with a different set of familial difficulties and decisions to be thought about and made than the usual 30 something sagas I usually read.  The writing, characters and storyline engaged me throughout, so much so that I was quite disappointed when I came to the end and I’d certainly look out for other writing by this author.

Reviewed by Lisa Ward-Weir, guest reviewer

Thanks very much to Lisa for kindly reading and reviewing this book for The Little Reader Library

Thanks to the author for an ebook copy of this novel to read and review.

Lisa also blogs at Book-Addicted Housewife

You can visit the author's website here