William Leith10 April 2012
The Stranger in the Mirror
by Jane Shilling
(Vintage, £8.99)
Jane Shilling is a middle-aged woman and an excellent writer, and this is her memoir of middle age.
It makes you feel that the classic male mid-life crisis, with its red sports cars and embarrassing flings, is much less serious.
As Shilling says, modern women "face a bleak choice" - either try to look young, by whatever means, or enter "a state of invisibility".
Where are the older female role models? Shilling makes you see that our culture overwhelmingly values fertility and power.
So it's easier for men, some of whom can cling on to these things as they age. But it's hard for women, she says. This is detailed, personal and memorable.
