"Not for the faint-hearted, this is a no-holds-barred, laugh-out-loud, wince-in-recognition account of life in your forties – with knobs on."
We meet Charlie on the morning of her 44th birthday, rudely awoken from a Jamie Dornan-fuelled dream by her Nerf-gun-wielding feral children, her lycra-clad husband, and the thundering arrival of a hangover. Her best friends are strewn across beds, motherhood feels relentless, and the nagging sense of is this really it? is impossible to ignore.
What follows is far more than “hanganxiety”. Charlie is bored, frustrated and deeply aware that midlife has arrived without a manual. If she were a man, society might be applauding a marathon, a career pivot or a dramatic reinvention. Instead, she’s left wondering whether she should get a job, leave her husband, flee suburbia, write a bestseller… or finally complete that ridiculous bucket list she once started.
As she flicks through a box of memories: teenage dreams, lost friends, the shock of a life cut short, the book deepens into something more tender and reflective. There’s a quiet reckoning with the younger self who once dreamed so boldly, and a determination not to let her down again.
The result is a glorious blend of savage truth and absurd humour. Readers will chuckle, cackle and occasionally howl at the recognition: the cocktail-fuelled coven of the group chat, the ferocity and fragility of female friendships, the identity-shifts of motherhood, ageing parents, and the seismic - often unspoken - realities of perimenopause.
Importantly, this is not a book about falling apart. It’s a book about recognising what midlife really looks like, and understanding that feeling lost, stuck or unsure does not mean you’re broken. It’s for those who have navigated the challenges of midlife and come through them, and for those still in the thick of it, wondering when they stopped recognising themselves.
Written with enormous heart, warmth and razor-sharp wit, 45 Things to Do Before You’re 45 offers solidarity rather than solutions. You’ll cringe in recognition, smile in recognition, cry in recognition, and feel profoundly seen. Through humour, honesty and deep compassion, the book reminds you – again and again – that you are not alone.
Think Motherland meets Fleabag, with a generous splash of Why Mummy Drinks, it’s funny, frank and deeply supportive, this is the kind of read you press into a friend’s hands and say: read this. You’ll laugh out loud. Promise!
Uproariously funny and deeply human, 45 Things … is an all-too relatable story of what it means to be alive and how much living we all still have to do.
| Primary Genre | Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
| Other Genres: |
Uproariously funny and deeply human, 45 Things … is an all-too relatable story of what it means to be alive and how much living we all still have to do. Meet Charlie; unfulfilled and perimenopausal, Charlie's suburban life is a far cry from the Manhattan glamour she once dreamed of.
45 Things to do before you're 45 features in the following genres: Family Drama, General Fiction, Humorous Fiction, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Satirical fiction and parodies, Modern and Contemporary romance, Fiction
Paperback. £9.89, down from the £10.99 cover price. In Stock.
45 Things to do before you're 45 was written by Julia Tuffs and published by Fox and Ink Books
45 Things to do before you're 45 has 428 pages
£9.89, reduced from £10.99. In Stock.
