Eight (Not Ten) Popular Novels Featuring Women Over Sixty

Dear Friends, 

I set out to write about ten popular novels featuring women over sixty. I made it to eight, including my own, which won’t be released until May 2. Too soon to say it’s popular? Let’s just call it wishful thinking.

AI told me, “There actually aren’t that many recent bestsellers centered on women over 60—even though readers clearly want them. Lists and reader communities show the category is still relatively small but growing.” If AI is correct—a dangerous assumption—this is a market waiting to be tapped.

Consider this: many women now live to 90. That means ages 60 to 90 make up a full third of their lives. A third! And yet relatively few novels explore these years. I’d like to help change that with my upcoming release and the next one currently in outline form. Both celebrating, among other things, the joy of never worrying about an unplanned pregnancy again.

In the meantime, here’s an unordered list of books I’ve enjoyed, plan to enjoy, or think you might enjoy. I’ve marked the ones I’ve read with an asterisk.

*The Correspondent by Virginia Evans: If you miss the days of long, handwritten letters—or are curious what that felt like—this novel delivers. Told entirely through the correspondence of a 73-year-old woman, it’s funny, opinionated, and threaded with an unsettling mystery, just like the letters I used to write home to Mom and Dad.

*How to Read a Book by Monica Wood. Plenty to love here beyond the story itself. First, the older protagonist is named Harriet, like my mother. Second, Harriet runs a fantastic book club at a women’s prison. Third, I’m a sucker for a good redemption arc. Highly recommended, even if your mother wasn’t named Harriet.

*Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. Need I say more than octopus? How about a remarkably bright octopus? And his best friend is a 70-year-old woman who could honestly use his help. You probably already know 20 people who have gushed over this. What are you waiting for?

*Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout. Strout continues to build her rich Maine universe filled with reappearing characters. Many are older, including the irrepressible Olive Kitteridge, now over ninety. Read it for the world-building, the humanity, and the genuine dialogue. 

The Good House by Ann Leary. I haven’t read the novel yet, but I did love the film starring Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline. Sigourney plays a woman in denial about her alcoholism; Kevin is the one who got away but may be circling back. Their sex scene is both hilarious and possibly a little too relatable (don’t ask, see the film). Bonus: it’s set in my beloved Massachusetts.

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman. I want to read this because the author wrote “The Man Called Ove.”

An Elderly Lady is up to No Good by Helene Tursten. Sold on the title alone.

*Not My Job Anymore by Margie Benedict Coming 5/2/26 in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and large print size. Find it at your local bookstore or Amazon.

I'd love to hear your novel recommendations, or your thoughts on mine!

❤️Margie

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