“Sitting down with this book feels like sitting around with a group of girlfriends.”

“A brilliant overview for the tens of millions of women who qualify as being in their “midlife” and are not only faced with menopause but also other kinds of hell (retirement planning, feeling invisible at work) as well as unexpected gifts (a clear-eyed view of your own values). Canadian author Ann Douglas wrote many of the parenting books I turned to years ago, and I remember quoting her often for the now-defunct PARENTING magazine, so I’m thrilled that she’ll now help me through this next phase of life.”

“As thoughtful and thought-provoking as it is inspired and inspiring, NAVIGATING THE MESSY MIDDLE: A FIERCELY HONEST AND WILDLY ENCOURAGING GUIDE FOR MIDLIFE WOMEN must be considered essential reading for all women of any age - - but most especially those who feel estranged from the youth culture dominance in our contemporary society. “Navigating the Messy Middle” is very highly recommended for personal, community, and academic library Women’s Studies collections and reading lists.”

“This book tackles the complex and often misunderstood topic of women’s lived experience of mid-life, with insights from interviews with more than one hundred women. Written in a style that is both accessible and informative, Ann Douglas brings us a book which delivers on her intentions “to shine a spotlight on the radical, transformative potential of midlife”. In these pages, the reader is invited into a cornucopia of women’s stories, challenging the invisibility often associated with this stage of life, and ultimately drawing us towards a collective reimagining of the female life cycle.”

“If you’re a woman facing the beautiful, messy, occasionally harsh realities of midlife, this compelling new book from bestselling author Ann Douglas is for you. It offers a candid exploration of what it means to be a middle-aged woman in modern western society, a role which sees us at once indispensable and empowered, yet often invisible and ignored. It’s an eye-opening read, and well worth your precious time.”

“This is the midlife book we’ve been missing! In her inimitable style, Ann Douglas demystifies midlife and launches a conversation with inclusion, justice, compassion, and honesty at its core. NAVIGATING THE MESSY MIDDLE will be well-loved, dog-eared, underlined, and passed from friend to friend. It will encourage continued conversations between women who, after reading this book, will know for sure that they aren’t alone.”

“In NAVIGATING THE MESSY MIDDLE, Ann Douglas gives us the context, the compassion and the courage needed to understand the challenges, gifts and opportunities that midlife presents. It reads both like a manifesto and a heart-to-heart with your closest friends.”

“Western culture has a way of disappearing women at middle age, and author Ann Douglas is having none of it. In NAVIGATING THE MESSY MIDDLE, Douglas challenges the prevailing narrative that women in midlife are a product past their prime - diminishing in value and increasingly irrelevant. Combatting this culturally prescribed march toward invisibility, Douglas centres a diversity of women who, through sharing their stories, weave an alternate narrative - a broader, kinder, more accurate, and more inclusive narrative that is ripe with the realities, possibilities, complexities and contradictions experienced by women in midlife.”

“Our culture paints a vague yet bleak picture of menopause, and the result is a population of women who see their first hot flash as the beginning of the end. But midlife is about more than menopause. It’s nuanced and multifaceted, and where there can sometimes be misery, there can also be magic, as Ann Douglas illustrates persuasively in her new book, NAVIGATING THE MESSY MIDDLE. Written clearly and compellingly with a mix of science-backed information and real-life stories, NAVIGATING THE MESSY MIDDLE will inevitably find a wide, appreciative audience. Reading it made me feel seen, understood and empowered, and my anxiety about this period in my life has been replaced by curiosity and optimism. If you buy one book about midlife, make it this one.”

“Ann Douglas encourages all women to embrace their power and imagine a new future, a better future for all….Reading it has been a bit of an emotional journey. I think most women will have the same reaction: feeling seen, validated and celebrated!”

“If we’re lucky, we all occasionally have one of those evenings with friends where we vent about everything rattling around in our brains and lives, and realize that the answer to the question “Is it just me?” is a resounding no. This book is one of those evenings between two covers, delivered with Douglas’s signature wisdom, perspective, warmth and wit.”

“In this comprehensive overview of mid-life, Ann Douglas weaves a powerful tapestry of narratives, rich with the colours of many voices. The result is a precious gift for women feeling lost, desperate, or alone in midlife, since Douglas reveals, vibrantly, how peril is outweighed by potential and that midlife can be a ‘journey of becoming.’ This is an important and much-needed book.”

“The best thing about Ann Douglas’s perspective, as always, is her understanding that one-size-fits-all advice fits no one. Instead, in NAVIGATING THE MESSY MIDDLE, readers will discover an empowering guide to finding one’s own way through the ups and downs of midlife, a time when seeking strength in connection, embracing the changeability of the physical self, and focusing on one’s real values and priorities can create a powerful moment of (finally!) becoming.”