Books With Characters in Their 40s

Book Summary

Forty-two-year-old Becca has been married into her husband’s uber-wealthy family of lawyers for over half her life. At first, her husband was one of the good guys. But as he got older, he began representing the types of clients that made his parents rich—the smarmy guys who have done terrible things to women and had the money to avoid punishment. After overhearing a particularly disturbing comment that went unaddressed by her husband, Becca reaches her breaking point and leaves her marriage.

During the divorce proceedings, the judge is shocked that she isn’t protesting her decades-old prenup and plans to walk away with absolutely nothing. Instead, the judge declares that she should get to keep the fancy sailboat that bears her name.

Becca runs into a dreamy guy at the boatyard who helps her sell the boat, but the buyers are in Miami. To save money on the delivery, she recruits her 21-year-old daughter to sail with her from New England to Miami along the US coast. The only problem is that she has no idea how to sail.

Book Summary

Ted is 42 years old and struggling in his writing career and in relationships. His closest companion is his elderly dachshund, Lily. They do everything together. But now Lily has a new condition that Ted is having a hard time accepting.

This quirky novel turns into an adventure, which then spins into magical realism and beautifully written truths of loss and longing. It reminds us how it feels to love fiercely, how difficult it can be to let go, and how the fight for those we love is the greatest fight of all.

Book Summary

Cricket’s life takes a huge turn at 42 when she confirms her husband has been having an affair. She’s not going to walk away from her marriage without making him pay. Soon, she has a lawyer, an investigator, and a plan!

Her new shop assistant, Ruby, has had a troubled past, but is also ready for a fresh start. In addition to pursuing her dreams in fashion, she becomes fast friends with Cricket and is ready to go all-in on helping her get a bit of revenge. 

Together, the unlikely duo gets themselves into some hilarious situations as amateur sleuths.

Book Summary

Although she’s only 26, Lucy is tired. Her job, roommates, and terrible dates are all exhausting. After yet another bad date ends in a big storm and she doesn’t have bus fare, Lucy takes shelter in a small shop. Inside the shop, she finds a wishing machine, which she uses on a request to skip to the “good part” of her life.

The next morning, Lucy wakes up next to a husband she’s never met, with a storybook perfect little boy and baby girl, and her dream job. When she looks in the mirror, she sees her now 40-something face. Has she really skipped ahead, or just forgotten a big chunk of her life?

Book Summary

Sisters Eva (45) and Bitsy (48) grew up in Oxford, Mississippi surrounded by literary history and their mother’s stunning perennial gardens. Bitsy was the cheerleader and the homecoming queen who went on to marry a wealthy investment banker. Eva was the one always blamed when things went wrong – like the garden shed fire when she was eleven that changed everything!

As soon as she was old enough, Eva ran far away from Oxford – subverting expectations that she’d attend Ole Miss and instead moving to Arizona. She becomes a successful advertising executive and a yoga instructor, but at 45, she’s still alone.

When she receives a phone call from her father insisting that she return to Mississippi for her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary, she really can’t afford the time away from work, but she also can’t say no to her dad.

Will reuniting with her sister after all these years finally give them a chance to make amends? She’s surprised to find that seeing Oxford through the eyes of an adult really does feel like going “home”.

Book Summary

Ruth Jefferson is a 44-year-old labor and delivery nurse with twenty years of experience at a Connecticut hospital. After being reassigned away from a patient, she learns that the parents are white supremacists and don’t want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child.

The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey the orders of her superiors based on the parent’s mandate, or does she intervene?

This story is told from three alternating points of view: Ruth, the nurse; Kennedy, her middle-aged attorney; and Turk, the newborn’s white supremacist father.

Book Summary

The Massachusetts islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard are only 2.5 hours apart on the ferry, but have different vibes and provide for very different lives for identical 40 year old twin sisters who have been estranged for years. 

However, when a family crisis strikes, the women start to remember the importance of banding together and that their bond is stronger than the rivalry that separated them for too many years.

Book Summary

Three years ago, Amy’s husband left on a business trip and just decided not to come back. Forced into single parenthood and with no child support, she did what she had to do – cutting back expenses and taking a job as a school librarian. Now, her husband has shown back up out of the blue, wanting to reconnect with his teenagers. Amy is reluctant to let him have them over the summer, but she finally gives in.

With her newfound freedom, Amy decides to escape rural Pennsylvania to attend a librarian conference in NYC. Overworked and underappreciated, Amy describes herself simply as “a 40-year-old mom-shaped-librarian.” But her old friend Talia, a fashion magazine editor in the city, wants to help her see herself in a new light. A makeover, a few blind dates, and a trending hashtag later, Amy gets a glimpse of what her life could have been if she had chosen different priorities.

Just as Amy is struggling with whether to stay in this exciting new chapter of her life or return to the life she left behind, a crisis brings her two worlds crashing together.

Book Summary

At the age of 48, Anna is an empty nester who finds herself wondering who she really is. She separated from her husband, her daughter is grown, and her mother – the only parent she’s ever known – has passed away.

While sifting through her mother’s belongings, Anna finds a clue about the father she never knew. In a diary he kept as a student, she learns of his involvement in the radical politics of 1970s London, and she discovers that he eventually became the leader (some would say dictator) of a small (fictional) nation in West Africa of Bamana.

Eager to discover more about her family roots, Anna decides to track down her father. Having spent her life being viewed as Black back home in England, she is surprised to be viewed as white by the Bamanians. This is just the first of many surprises for Anna as she embarks on her moving journey of self-discovery.

Book Summary

Popular podcaster Alix Summers and an unassuming woman called Josie Fair don’t know each other, but discover that they are both celebrating their 45th birthdays at a local pub. When they bump into each other again outside Alix’s children’s school, Josie pitches an idea for the podcast.

While Alix finds something about Josie unsettling, her complicated life is ideal for the podcast and Alix doesn’t want to miss out on the story. But, before she knows it, Josie is fully entangled in her life. But then, Josie disappears as quickly as she arrived on Alix’s birthday. Unfortunately, she left a terrible legacy behind and Alix is now the subject of her own true crime podcast.

Book Summary

Lady Augusta (Gus) is bored by society life and tired of being dismissed as an “old maid” at 42. Her twin sister Julia is mourning her recently deceased fiance and needs a distraction.

When they hear that a friend’s goddaughter needs to be rescued from her violent husband, they jump into action and head to the countryside. On the way to the estate, their carriage is attacked and Gus accidentally shoots the ruffian in the scuffle. The twins are surprised to realize that the troublemaker is a man from their past, Lord Evan Belford, who was exiled to Australia twenty years earlier.

The sisters soon find themselves on a dangerous adventure that requires clever improvisation and a little help from the rather charming Lord Evan.

Book Summary

This book starts in 2005 on Jolene’s 41st birthday. She’s been married for 12 years and a member of the National Guard for even longer as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot. When she’s sent to Iraq, her husband, who doesn’t understand her dedication to her career and country, tells her he no longer loves her.

She’s heartbroken when she arrives in Iraq but thankfully has her best friend Tami by her side. The two encounter situations just as heartbreaking during their deployment. After reading about Jolene and Tami’s time deployed, some readers say they have a greater appreciation for our modern-day troops.

Book Summary

They say you learn a lot about a person when you walk in their shoes… but can you also swap fates with them?

At 45, Nisha leads a charmed and glamorous globetrotting life. But suddenly, things aren’t going her way. First, someone accidentally walks off with her gym bag (custom-made, red crocodile Christian Louboutin’s and all), and then she returns to her London hotel room to discover that her husband has locked her out of their penthouse and cut her off.

Sam Kemp is struggling to keep her family afloat, and while she didn’t mean to swap bags with Nisha, she also doesn’t have time to worry about exchanging them. By the time she realizes the mistake, she’s already late for a meeting, so she puts on Nisha’s red heels rather than the old black pumps she left in her own bag. She’s shocked at how much more confident and empowered she feels. The new confidence inspires changes that go deeper than fashion.

Book Summary

Edie and Mac Swan lead a picture-perfect life. The high school sweethearts have two great kids, good careers (she’s an interior designer and he’s a pediatrician), and a historic home on a tree-lined street in Mobile, Alabama.

They are living the good life, until Mac’s 40th birthday, when a young woman walks into his office and changes everything. 

Nineteen years ago, while they were in college, Mac and Edie spent a summer apart. Now, because of that summer, everything is being called into question – their roles as parents, their reputations in the community, and the foundation of their marriage. In order to chart a new course for the future, they’ll be forced to face the choices they made long ago.

Book Summary

Even a therapist needs someone to talk to! Lori Gottlieb is a forty-something Los Angeles therapist who helps patients through a myriad of life’s challenges, but when a crisis causes her world to come crashing down, she seeks the help of a therapist of her own.

In this very candid and personal memoir, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both a clinician and a patient. She breaks down many of the stigmas about mental health, sheds light on the benefits of therapy, and paints a vivid and funny portrait of what it means to be human.

Book Summary

Forty-seven-year-old teacher, Margery, is fed up with her hard life in the post-WW2 years. It’s 1950, and London is still dealing with rationing and shortages. Despite barely being able to afford basic life at home, Margery decides to take her future in a brave new direction. She posts an ad for a French-speaking assistant to join her on a trip halfway around the world. 

Margery is looking for the fabled golden beetle of New Caledonia that her father told her about when she was a young girl. No matter what obstacles she faces, Margery pushes forward in this cross-ocean historical adventure that takes an unlikely duo to the South Pacific.

Book Summary

When family tragedy strikes, Uncle Patrick needs to take custody of his niece and nephew for the summer. Forty-three-year-old GUP (Gay Uncle Patrick) loves the kids, but he’s used to them going home after a weekend.

Once a famous sitcom star, Patrick’s career is stalled. His Palm Springs lifestyle of cocktails at brunch isn’t exactly ideal for a 6 and 9-year-old. He quickly realizes that having the kids longer than a few days means he needs to be more of a parent figure. But in order to help the kids, Patrick will also have to figure out how to help himself. This means facing some difficult memories from his past and deciding what he wants for his future.

Book Summary

This novel tells the intertwined tale of three moms whose children attend the same primary school in suburban Sydney.

Forty-year-old Madeline is funny, biting, and passionate; she remembers everything and forgives no one. Celeste is beautiful, but the illusion of perfection comes at a price. Single mom Jane is new to town and has a mysterious past. She’s so young that other moms mistake her for a nanny.

The three women at the heart of this story are very different, but a schoolyard scandal threatens to expose each of their lies.

Book Summary

When Olga, 40, and her 43-year-old older brother, Prieto, were just teenagers, their mother abandoned them to fight for a political cause. Twenty-seven years later, the siblings have both made names for themselves in their hometown of Brooklyn. Olga is a wedding planner for Manhattan’s chic 1%-ers, and Prieto is a popular congressman representing their gentrifying Latinx neighborhood.

Despite the prestige of their public personas, things are far less perfect behind closed doors. Olga spends her days orchestrating the love stories of the elite, but she’s still looking for love of her own, Prieto has secrets that could impact his political career, and both are still grappling with their troubled childhoods.

Set in New York City in 2017 – the year that Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico – this story examines political corruption and complex family relationships. It paints a vivid history of Puerto Rico set against the notion of the American dream, and it asks what it really means to weather a storm.

Book Summary

Paige was widowed two years ago and still isn’t quite back to “normal.” Now, her trusted boss of 22 years is also gone, and his son has taken over. And he’s radically changing everything at the advertising firm, including an announcement that he’s getting rid of 2 employees at the end of the summer.

Paige is trying to hold on to her job and sanity for her teenage son’s sake, but her formerly perfect house and yard are both a mess. 

As she tries to escape her new work problems on her back porch over a glass of wine, her nosy neighbor lectures her about the dandelions in her yard. In frustration, she pours another glass of wine and begins yanking out the dandelions one by one…and it feels GOOD. Before long, she was looking for a shovel for more yard therapy. 

Paige creates a bigger and bigger hole in her yard, much to the chagrin of her fancy suburban neighbors. But it’s helping her cope with the ongoing craziness at work and her lingering grief. Despite her inexperience in gardening and pushy neighbors, she finally begins to feel fully alive again.

Book Summary

As a botanist, forty-year-old May prefers spending time with plants over people. She’s a gardener for a local university and likes to observe the lives of others while minimizing her interactions with them. However, in her younger years, she had a group of four close friends.

While it’s not feasible to get the group back together in one place, May sets out to reconnect with them one by one during an unexpected hiatus from work. Part tale of self-discovery and part story of female friendship, this book also explores themes of life’s offline simplicities vs. images of perfection online. 

Book Summary

When Annie’s 20+ year marriage ends suddenly, leaving her single for the first time in her adult life at age 44, she’s not sure how to start over. Her kids are grown, and there’s nothing keeping her in the city where she and her ex-husband were successful restauranteurs. So, she answers an ad for a temporary position as a winter caretaker of a historic home in the small English seaside community of Willow Bay. This decision turns out to be even more impactful than she expected.

Annie is immediately charmed by the house, and the quirky but friendly villagers welcome her with open arms. All except the grumpy nephew of the home’s owner, who sees her as a roadblock to his plans. But as fall turns to winter, Annie begins to formulate her own plan for the next season of her life. 

Book Summary

Best friends Ash and Edi became close in childhood, and forty years later they are facing an impossible season of life. Ash is getting divorced at 45 and she is falling apart. This makes it even harder to handle the reality that Edi is facing her final days. She is dying of ovarian cancer and moving into a nearby hospice facility.

Ash is doing everything she can to take care of Edi and her young children, and does her best to bring them joy and humor however she can. But her brave face hasn’t stopped the rest of her problems.

Book Summary

Class Mom is a light and entertaining novel about the life of a 40-something mom in a large suburb southwest of Kansas City. She also has two daughters in college, as well as a son in kindergarten.

If you’ve ever done a little eye-rolling when dealing with other parents at your child’s school, this is the book for you. Former rockstar groupie Jen is bamboozled into being the class mom for her daughter’s kindergarten class. Her emails recruiting other parent volunteers are full of the things you wish you could say, but hopefully wouldn’t.

Book Summary

Susan Green thrives on order, routine, and predictability. Even her romance is scheduled with a regimented weekly relationship that fulfills her physical and cultural needs without emotions or strings.

Her ability to control every aspect of her life is lost when she finds out she is pregnant in her mid 40s. Through this big moment, combined with her mother’s passing, Susan has to learn how to live and love, even in circumstances she can’t direct.