Read of the Week

Confessions of a Forty-something F##k Up

Alexandra Potter

Pan Macmillan

Review: Lindiwe Mlandu

Nell Stevens envisioned an Instagrammable life with a loving husband, beautiful home and maybe a child.

However, that dream came crashing down when she broke up with her American fiance, Ethan.

After years of living in California, she returns home to the UK, to start all over.

All her friends are married with children. Nell feels like
a failure. She’s in her 40s, back at her parents’ house with no
job.

Everywhere she turns, she’s reminded of what she doesn’t have and she’s constantly comparing her life to that of her peers.

When she gets a job writing obituaries, she meets an 80-year-old widow nicknamed, Cricket. They strike up a friendship which helps both women. They support each other and use humour to deal with the daily challenges.

Nell starts a podcast about being a “forty-something f##k up in which she opens up about having no idea what she’s doing and her anxieties.

And she soon learns that there are many people who feel the same way.

The same people who she thought had it together were facing the same challenges. They were only hiding behind Instagram filters and #winningatlife.

The book is a reminder not to believe everything we see on social media.

Most people have no idea what they are doing and that’s okay.

We are not meant to have all the answers. Life is about finding meaningful moments, not taking yourself too seriously, and making friends of all ages.