A Wisdom Of Age

An uplifting, inspiring book about the wisdom of older women—and what we can learn from them to rewrite the story of the second half of our lives.

As part of the promotion for her 2022 book A Question of Age: Women ageing and the forever self, Jacinta Parsons has been having conversations with a broad cohort of women of varying ages and backgrounds about the experience of being a woman and ageing. Over the course of these conversations, it has become clear to Jacinta that the conversation about ageing for women is alive and bubbling with a kind of excitement—that is, women are ready to do ageing differently.

In this book, Jacinta talks to the women who inspire her, the women who are doing this ageing thing right. Looking to the source, Jacinta is mining the wisdom direct from those that know how to do it well, those older women who say, this is what feels good. Drawing from the experiences of everyday women right around the country, Jacinta reflects on conversations she's been having about the 'wisdoms' of ageing, asking: now that we know what's held us back and who has controlled this narrative, how are we going to do this better?

A Wisdom Of Age captures the brewing tone of revolution that sits in the hearts of middle age to older women who are ready to live a different way, to tell a different story—that is, a story of women's ageing being about reclaiming the fierce girl we had inside us pre-adolescence; about an unapologetic taking up of space; about speaking out, refinding our confidence and, finally, about wisdom.