Midlife Solo

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These essays — moving, engaging, and deeply personal — explore the themes of family responsibility, growing up, and growing older. As the author, a divorced single mother beginning a new life and career in her forties, delves into the details of her own situation, she illuminates universal truths about what matters most: love, fulfillment, and the pain and necessity of huge change.

These pieces about a woman in midlife struggling to come into her own in a complicated world are rich in insight and written with warmth, humour, and clear-eyed, sometimes devastating, honesty.

“Over a ten-year period, more than fifty of my essays appeared in newspapers, magazines, and on CBC radio, read by me. These intensely personal stories were published or broadcast on air almost as soon as I’d written them. For this former actor and lifelong diarist just beginning to emerge as a writer, they were a wonderful combination of writing and performance; the feedback I received sounded like applause.

But those years, from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s, were difficult. I was the single mother of two teenagers, struggling to make a living and find a new path through the world. Writing the truth about what I was experiencing and feeling, observing and remembering, helped me through.

This collection depicts a woman in midlife, dealing with divorce, teenaged children, aging parents, my own aging, my memories and reflections — in short, the universal joys and troubles of the human heart.”

 - Beth Kaplan

Beth Kaplan, a professional actor, left the stage at thirty to become a writer. She is the author of four books: two memoirs, a biography, and a guide to creative writing that’s the textbook for the courses she has taught for nearly three decades at the University of Toronto and Toronto Metropolitan University. Her essays have been published in many newspapers, including the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Ottawa Citizen, and in magazines including Toronto Life, Today’s Parent, More, and Divorce. She has been a frequent contributor to various CBC radio programs, including Fresh Air. She lives in Toronto and remains an active voice in the community.

Pub Date: November 2023

Available at your local bookseller or order from Mosaic Press / IPG(US)/ Gazelle Book Services(UK/EU) / Manda Group(Canada)

6 X 9 inches

228 Pages

Price: $21.95 USD $24.95 CDN

ISBN PB: 9781771617338

PDF: 9781771617345

EPUB: 9781771617352

MOBI: 9781771617369