In the Fullness of Time
32 Women on Life After 50
In the Fullness of Time is a collection of essays, poems, interviews, and photographs that speak to the experience of aging— the joys, the rewards, and the losses.
Contributors:
Abigail Thomas
Vivian Gornick
Carolyn See
Linda Gravenson
Claire Bloom
Susan Schneider
Elizabeth Frank
Jenny Allen
Laura Furman
Gail Godwin
Katherine B. Weissman
Jane Alexander
Ntozake Shange
Laura Siegel
Frances Itani
Martha Fay
Laurie Stone
Tina Howe
Sharon Olds
Erica Jong
Dr. Christiane Northrup
Helena María Viramontes
Beth Powning
Joan Nicholson
Jane O’Reilly
Marta Caals Istomin
Andrea Marcusa
Paula Fox
Gretchen Haight
Emily W. Upham
Margaret Howe Freydberg
Edna O’Brien
Choose a format:
Buy from us:
- Atria Books |
- 304 pages |
- ISBN 9781439169155 |
- April 2010
Buy from another retailer:
Praise
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“Reading this book is like talking to a really good friend who is prepared to hear your midnight confessions and then share a few of her own. Getting older is no picnic, but reading this book offers the immeasurable comfort of knowing we are not alone in the journey and that as much as there are moments to weep, there are also lots of moments when laughter is the only sane response.”– Pearl Cleage, author of Seen It All and Done the Rest
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“Honest, heartfelt voices.”– Publishers Weekly
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“I found it a book that's often amusing, always inspiring, and definitely worth reading.”– William Fisher, Huffington Post
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“[In the Fullness of Time] without exception, honest and revealing.”– Donna Marchetti, Cleveland Plain Dealer
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“I did immensely enjoy IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME, and I did need to know the remarkable depth and range of thoughts, feelings, fears, risks, joys, wounds and failures that editors Emily W. Upham and Linda Gravenson invited their 32 literary guests to share.”– Pauline Finch, Bookreporter.com
Read an Excerpt
Linda Gravenson
When this collaboration began, around a coffee table in the Hudson Valley, I was drawn to it from a somewhat different perspective than Emily’s. I had grown up in the 1940s and ’50s, before the maps of tradition were shredded, and had come through some of the losses she was anticipating but also knew of the rewards that can follow in their wake. I’d moved to the country alone with four animals as family, lived without my city neighbors for the first time, learned to drive at fifty-three, and, most important, resumed writing and editing.
I’ve always... see more
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Book Reviews
Author Revealed
Emily W. Upham
Q. how did you come to write In the Fullness of Time?
A. At age 55 I realized that the 3 most important people in my life were going to die soon. A man who was everything to me was dying, my older husband and mother I would not grow old with. At the same time, I had to put aside my life long profession of performing classical pianist because of many back surgeries. The world was looking unrecognizable and terrifying, and I could not imagine how I would make and survive this transition. So I decided to go to older women slightly ahead of me in this process to see if I could learn from them. It occurred to me that all of my generation, the baby boomers, had arrived at an age in life when losses and major changes were going to be a constant part of our lifes. So I went on a quest. It was a rich and rewarding process for many reasons.
Linda Gravenson
Q. how did you come to write In the Fullness of Time?
A. I had come through a number of losses and was attracted to Emily's quest for "maps" for this terrain of life after 50. I was eager to bring "change" to our landscape of "loss" - as I knew some of my more significant shifts might not have occured without loss. I've always loved anthologies, particularly personal essays, which are free to explore a subject rich with complexity. We were excited by the range of responses we had to our invitations for essays. As I've said in my Introduction "These are the women I'd want in my lifeboat."
