Books

We’re often told to fear ageing — to shrink, quieten down, disappear a little. Jo Blackwell’s answer, written the year she approached 65, is that midlife is where the truth about ageing begins. Drawing on research and the lived experience of women in their fifties, sixties and seventies, she walks through confidence, menopause, ageist assumptions absorbed over a lifetime, and roles that no longer fit — without any pressure to reinvent yourself or “fix” what isn’t broken.

Warm, evidence-informed, and firmly on your side.

A companion collection in the Menopausal Superheroes series, bundling two interlude novellas and a set of short stories. It goes behind and between the novels to deepen the world of Patricia the Lizard Woman, Fuerte, Flygirl, and Dr. Cindy Liu, exploring what it means to be a hero at any age or stage of life.

Registered dietitian and journalist Christy Harrison dismantles diet culture — the harmful system that profits from women’s food anxiety — and presents intuitive eating as a radical, evidence-based alternative. Especially relevant during menopause when diet-culture pressure often intensifies.

Springfield refuses to stay saved. A new mutation sends the women’s powers into dangerous, unstable spikes, and only Flygirl is unaffected. Racing to find a cause and a cure, she must cooperate with the very scientist who changed their lives, while romances, weddings, and divorces test whether these heroines can truly have it all.

With great power comes great frustration. As the newly transformed women adjust to life as superheroes, Patricia presses on alone to find the woman who changed them, while Jessica and Linda train with a covert agency known as The Department. Old threats resurface, and controlling their new abilities proves harder than any of them expected.

Sex educator Emily Nagoski uses the science of desire to help women understand their sexuality — why it works, why it doesn’t, and how context shapes arousal. Indispensable for women navigating low libido and changing desire during menopause.

The Menopausal Superheroes step out of the shadows, and the pressure mounts on every front. As public scrutiny intensifies and their personal lives strain under the weight of secret identities, the women must navigate fresh dangers while holding together a fragile alliance and the relationships that matter most.

A short-story collection in the Menopausal Superheroes series, gathering four original tales that fill the gaps between the novels. The stories trace the fraught relationship between Patricia, the Lizard Woman, and her former friend turned mad scientist Dr. Cindy Liu, exploring what it means to be a hero in midlife and beyond.

When four ordinary women hit menopause, the change turns out to be far stranger than hot flashes. After using the same small company’s natural products, Helen can shoot fire, Patricia becomes bulletproof, Jessica floats, and Linda gains immense strength and a new male body. United by that one common link, the unlikely heroines set out to find the woman responsible.

A delightful, illustrated guide to the digestive system — including the gut microbiome’s role in immunity, mental health, and hormonal balance. Menopause dramatically shifts gut bacteria, making this essential background reading.

A single-subject book on vaginal atrophy, the genitourinary syndrome of menopause that affects a large majority of postmenopausal women and is discussed by almost none of them. Blunt, practical, and written because nothing else existed.

A board-certified menopause practitioner shares everything she tells her patients, covering hot flashes, sleep disruption, vaginal changes, sexual health, bone loss, and heart disease risk. Clear, accessible, and reassuring.

A comprehensive visual reference covering every aspect of the menopausal transition — symptoms, medical treatments, complementary therapies, and lifestyle strategies — in an accessible, illustrated format.

British television presenter Davina McCall and Dr. Naomi Potter team up to deliver a comprehensive, positive guide to menopause — covering HRT, symptoms, lifestyle, and the significant shift in how menopause is understood and treated in the UK.

Dr. Stacy Sims applies her female physiology expertise specifically to the menopausal transition, with training and nutrition protocols designed to maintain strength, power, and athletic performance through and beyond menopause.

As her 50th birthday approached, Jo Blackwell felt old, unfit, irrelevant and quietly terrified — so she started writing. The blog that became this book struck a chord with thousands of women asking the same question: what the heck just happened to my life? Collected here, the posts are wry, raw and reassuring by turns — ageing bodies, hormones, confidence, grief — landing on the simple conclusion that life is about family, friends, community and being useful, and that she was OK just as she was.

The honest, funny end of the midlife shelf.

Peg sells beachfront homes, raises two kids, and holds her life together with duct tape and dark humor. What she can’t manage is menopause, divorce, and an ex who flirts with women half her age. As hot flashes and brain fog upend her world, Peg unravels in hilarious, inconvenient ways, and begins to suspect her breakdown might also be a breakthrough.

Built on original doctoral research into why professional women over fifty are walking out of organizations that spent decades training them. Ryan names the triple bind of ageism, sexism and menopause without treating any of them as the individual woman problem to solve.

Three women — all navigating the particular rage of perimenopause — discover that the hot flashes aren’t the only things that have changed. Kirsten Miller’s novel is a feminist revenge fantasy wrapped in literary fiction, in which menopause confers not weakness but power — and the women most underestimated by their world become its most dangerous members.

Barbara Walker reclaims the ‘crone’ archetype from its derogatory associations, presenting the post-menopausal woman as a being of power, wisdom, and spiritual authority in pre-patriarchal traditions. A foundational feminist text on aging.

Neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine’s accessible guide to the female brain across the lifespan — including the profound neurological changes that occur in perimenopause and menopause, and how they shape emotion, memory, and behavior.

A standalone novella set between books two and three. Flygirl and Fuerte bring the Unusual Cases Unit’s Good Will Tour to a Springfield hospital close to Flygirl’s heart, but the visit is upended when a desperate woman, denied experimental treatment for her wife’s cancer, forces the heroes to choose between good publicity and saving lives.

Neuroscientist Lisa Mosconi reveals how menopause reshapes the brain and what women can do to protect their cognitive health. Groundbreaking and empowering.

Dr. Jen Gunter cuts through menopause misinformation with science, humor, and feminist fire. Tackles HRT, bone health, cardiovascular risk, and medical neglect of menopausal women.