Friday essay: how women writers helped me find my voice after divorce

When my 25-year marriage broke down in 2017, I did what I always do in my life, especially in times of crisis. I turned to books. Specifically, to books by women.

Many, but not all of them, were in middle age, writing about their lives post-husbands - often post-intensive mothering too. They'd arrived at an unmarked place. There were no literary or narrative models to follow, in their lives or in their art. So th