WISE WOMEN

Myths and Stories for Midlife and Beyond

An extraordinary selection of stories’

The Times Literary Supplement

Out now – worldwide

PUBLICATION INFORMATION

OCTOBER 3 – Hardback, e-book and audiobook: Virago Press (an imprint of Little, Brown)

OCTOBER 8 – North American trade paperback: New World Library

Rights enquiries to my agent: [email protected]

Publicity queries (except North America) to [email protected]

Publicity enquiries (North America) to [email protected]

‘The primary purpose of this collection is to reenchant a time of life which can seem dreary, and which most of us approach with trepidation. In spite of the evident challenges of midlife, menopause and the decades which follow, more and more mature women today are looking for ways to reimagine and reclaim the power of the second half of life. We’re all looking to become Wise Women, each in our own unique way. This book re-members the beautiful, lost fragments of our rich European traditions, and offers ideas for reweaving them into the fabric of a more meaningful and exhilarating everyday.’

Please visit this page for Wise Women events in autumn 2024

Over the last five or six years, I’ve undertaken a long and joyous research project to dig out and analyse stories about older women in European folklore. Much to my delight, I unearthed a surprising number of stories populated by a diverse range of older women who hold the protagonist’s fate in the palm of their gnarly old hands, who see the bigger picture (and probably were the ones who painted it in the first place) or who have the last laugh.

My last book, Hagitude, was focused on the distinctive archetypal characteristics of a few of these women, but I didn’t have room to tell their stories in full, or to write about the entire, lavish array of enchanting characters I’d discovered. I conceived of Wise Women so that, for this first time, this large body of elder-woman folklore might be brought together in a book. Drawing on my many decades as a psychologist as well as a folklorist and mythologist, for each of the 32 stories collected in the book, there’s a commentary which offers ideas about how it might inform and inspire older women today.

If you’re hungry for even more wise women, come and join my community on Substack where, for paid subscribers, there is an extension to the book: five additional stories I’ve unearthed which complement those I collected for Wise Women, along with my commentaries.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

An unforgettable collection of retold myths and folk tales celebrating the wisdom and power of older women.

Ungainly giantesses. Sequin-strewn fairy godmothers. Misunderstood witches. Fierce grandmothers. Hairy-chinned hags. Craggy crones.

From early childhood, we learn about the world and its possibilities through myths and fairy tales. The heroines, though, tend to be golden-haired princesses, and the evil-doers often older women.

But women today are searching for positive versions of themselves from midlife onwards, and this dazzling array of not-to-be-messed-with characters provides them. They outwit monsters, test and mentor younger heroines, embody the cycles and seasons of the earth, weave the world into being – and almost always have the last laugh.

These women manifest their wisdom in different ways, and so offer us inspiration for how we too can walk boldly and live authentically in the second half of life.

Praise for Wise Women

‘An extra­ordinary selection of stories … beautifully and vividly retold, elaborating the bare-bones structures of folk tales into delightful literary short stories that will be enjoyed by a wider readership than the wise older women for whom the book is intended.’
Times Literary Supplement

‘A triumphant antidote to the falsities spread about women’s aging, Wise Women is a solace- and life-giving collection of fairy and folk tales.’
– Foreword Reviews

‘A collection of stories retold to celebrate the power of women in the second, golden half of their lives. Begone crones, witches and hags – here, the old ways of thinking are cast aside for inspiration, boldness and fierceness.’
The Bookseller (category highlight)

‘Nestled in insightful notes, this collection turns the spotlight on older women, celebrating their perspicacity and clout with the flair of a seasoned Broadway performance. This will be a smash-hit of a show starring mature and canny women in its second and third acts!  Read it, absorb it, treasure it!’
– Shahrukh Husain, author of The Virago Book of Witches

The glorious possibility that we might age and ripen, age and grow greater, age and be-come, while also accepting that we will age and die – this is what I have come to expect from Sharon Blackie’s expansive work’
– Stella Duffy, author of The Room of Lost Things

‘A wonderful collection of tales casting light on older women’s desires and roles. Blackie’s careful analysis of myth and fairy tale awakens a powerful sense of connection with our most difficult and our most nurturing selves. In a world that often struggles to acknowledge the richness and complexity of this stage of women’s lives, I found these stories of carers, peacemakers, tricksters and more both comforting and inspiring. I will be recommending this to all the wise women I know!’
– Victoria Smith, author of Hags

‘The book I’ve been longing for. I immediately want to give it to all my woman friends. It is so important and Sharon Blackie is exactly the right inspirational person to bring this topic and these new stories of old women to the culture’
– Jill Dawson, author of The Bewitching

‘I adored Wise Women – this is the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle when it comes to reframing the narrative in our culture about the role of older females. Sharon Blackie has unearthed the tales we Queenagers need to see what we can be and become as we age. Essential reading.’
– Eleanor Mills, founder of Noon.org.uk and author of Much More to Come: Lessons on the mayhem and magnificence of midlife

‘This rich curation re-iterates the truth that women in midlife – and beyond – are a vital source of wisdom. Reading them ignited a fire in my belly!’
– Julia Bueno, author of Everyone’s a Critic

‘A fascinating collection of female myths and legends that read like both dreams and nightmares’
– Sara Sheridan, author of The Fair Botanists

‘This book populated my head with older women who stride, trick, battle, guide and outwit their way through the pages. The giant who forged Scotland’s landscape with clay and her great hammer, the legendary warrior who trained the Irish hero Cuchullain in arts of combat and a mother who stood between armies and bared her breasts to prevent war between her sons. Reading it quenched a thirst I didn’t know I had. Oh for a world where stories of the power and joy of women’s elder years are celebrated everywhere.’
– Doreen Cunningham, author of Soundings

‘Wondrously wise, clever and insightful as well as slyly funny. A new path made of old stories, offering an alternative for women in the second half of life – a reframing as a harvest season of experience rather than a dying off.’
– AG Slatter, author of The Briar Book of the Dead

READ an extract from my introduction to wise women

WISE WOMEN AUDIOBOOK

Narrated by: Kristin Atherton, Sharon Blackie

‘The stories which are retold in this book, based on originals scattered throughout several European traditions, are stories in which older women positively dazzle. In bringing together these ungainly giantesses, glamorous fairy godmothers, misunderstood witches, fierce grandmothers and perspicacious wise women, my aim was both to challenge and change the current cultural discourse around ageing – to help older women to transform themselves, and live and tell their own stories in their own unique way.’

– from the Introduction

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