Seven top books about actually-old women

Laurie Frankel is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of six novels. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Poets & Writers, Publishers Weekly, People Magazine, Lit Hub, The Sydney Morning Herald, and other publications. She is the recipient of the Washington State Book Award and the Endeavor Award. Her novels have been translated into more than twenty-five languages and been optioned for film and TV. A former college professor, she now writes full-time in Seattle, Washington where she lives with her family and makes good soup.

[Coffee with a Canine: Laurie Frankel and Calli; The Page 69 Test: The Atlas of Love; My Book, The Movie: Goodbye for Now; The Page 69 Test: Goodbye for Now; My Book, The Movie: This Is How It Always Is; The Page 69 Test: This Is How It Always Is; Writers Read: Laurie Frankel (February 2017); The Page 69 Test: One Two Three; Q&A with Laurie Frankel; The Page 69 Test: Enormous Wings]

Frankel's new novel is Enormous Wings.

At Lit Hub the author tagged seven great books about "actually-old women behaving as actually old." One title on Frankel's list:

Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt

To begin at a beginning—the cover—this might be the most perfectly titled book I’ve ever read. (I wouldn’t dare spoil the eponymous moment, but it moved me to tears.) Its protagonist, Ruth, takes over caring for her granddaughter Lily as it becomes clear—gradually and then all at once—that her drug-addicted daughter Eleanor cannot. Ruth is an extraordinary heroine, rock-solid strong in a completely unshowy, sincere, vulnerable way. Her relationship with Lily is central—and it’s striking, smart, and unusual—but her relationship with Eleanor is also astute, heartbreaking, and beautifully explored. This novel is simultaneously quiet, stripped down, hyper focused AND can’t-stop-turning-pages tense, and that’s owing to how deeply you feel for Ruth and this family. Boyt gives us much needed, different-than-usual takes on grandmothering, family, and addiction. Moving, harrowing, and mind-blowing.

Read about another title on Frankel's list.

Loved and Missed is among Karleigh Frisbie Brogan's seven books that reckon with larger-than-life mothers.

--Marshal Zeringue