‘A new survey has discovered that older women readers are fed up of being portrayed in fiction as dotty, daffy and either uninterested in, or desperate for, sex. The mega social media site Gransnet polled 1,046 women and found 47% of women over 40 say there are not enough books about middle-aged or older women — yet women over 45 buy more fiction than any other section of society. But the characters they encounter are often baffled by IT and confined to domestic situations.’ (Mslexia newsletter)

All credit, then, to Gransnet and HQ, who’ve launched a competition for a novel with a protagonist over 40, written by a woman over 40.

Why didn’t I enter Fragments of a Dream? Rosie, my protagonist, is well over 40, and so am I. But the competition is only open to UK residents, and I live abroad. It’s obstacles like this that led me, reluctantly, into self-publishing.

So if you’d like to read the novel, whether or not you’re a woman over 40, check it out on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fragments-Dream-Ruth-Larrea/dp/1791539084 (Kindle and paperback). Set in Greece and England in the 1960s and the present day, it’s about Rosie’s search for her old flame, Angelos, the mistakes of youth, misunderstandings of language and culture, and her attempt to put them right.

‘Characters with real depth,’ one reviewer commented.
‘A fabulous read,’ said another. ‘I loved it from start to finish.’

I hope you will, too.