Kiss Tomorrow Hello: Notes from the Midlife Underground by Twenty-Five Women over Forty

Boomer women share their surprise at arriving in midlife and the lessons they've learned along the way. Most of the contributors to this volume, edited by award-winning authors Barnes (In the Wilderness ) and Davis (Winter Range ), are in their 40s; a handful—among them Annick Smith, Beverly Lowry and Mary Clearman Blew—have reached 60. The entries vary greatly in tone and literary skill, but there are several outstanding contributions. Diana Abu-Jaber explores with intelligence the moves she has made and the meaning of permanence and place. Julia Glass describes the physical and emotional toll cancer treatments have taken on her and her children. On a lighter note, Pam Houston details with considerable wit a period when she was consumed by an erotic attraction (never consummated) to a man other than her husband (devoted to raising organic cattle of a certain breed, he was known as "the Scottish Highland beefcake"). No doubt other boomer women will find much to identify with. (On sale Mar. 21)