Middle-age

The horror of finding oneself ‘young-old’

11 November 2023 9:00 am

‘I used to run upstairs all the time,’ sixtysomething Marcus Berkmann recalls wistfully, as, midway through life’s journey, he wakes to find himself in a dark wood

An independent observer: Whereabouts, by Jhumpa Lahiri, reviewed

8 May 2021 9:00 am

After falling in love with Italy as a young woman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri broke with English and…

Help over the hump

28 October 2017 9:00 am

Losing our way in life’s trackless forest, whither should we turn for solace and advice? Wisdom used to be the…

Confessions of a Saga lout

2 April 2016 9:00 am

Baby boomers like me aren’t giving up irresponsible hedonism as we age. We’re just getting worse at it

Erica Jong's middle-aged dread

28 November 2015 9:00 am

Who’d get old? Bits fall off, your loved ones start dropping like flies and, perhaps worst of all, the only…

Time is of the essence in Helen Simpson’s Cockfosters

21 November 2015 9:00 am

Helen Simpson is not a prolific writer; six slim collections of short stories in 25 years, each timed quinquennially with…

I went looking for a used car – and found my inner boy racer

11 April 2015 9:00 am

A bit late, I know, to put in a bid for Jeremy Clarkson’s old job. But I think I might…

My new affair is thrilling, expensive — and might just break my neck

25 October 2014 9:00 am

I have fallen in love with an unsuitable male. My wife isn’t totally happy about this relationship because she recognises…

These days, when men wolf-whistle at me, I thank them

6 September 2014 9:00 am

Incredible as it seems to me now, there was a time when a wolf whistle was annoying. A man would…

Why the Ancient Greeks didn’t have middle-aged spread

23 August 2014 9:00 am

A drug has been invented to halt what is known as middle-aged spread. But it would be so much better…

You’re never too old, they say. But I am

16 August 2014 9:00 am

For my 49th birthday treat, I went to see Shakespeare in Love at the Noël Coward theatre in London. Expensive…