Quilt on Fire: The Messy Magic of Midlife

Description

A frank, funny and tender new book from Christie Watson about the search for meaning in mid-life 'A wildly entertaining and necessary book' ELIZABETH DAY 'A must-read for every woman' JACQUELINE WILSON 'Laugh-out-loud, haunting and beautifully crafted' DREDA SAY MITCHELL ________ In her early twenties, Christie Watson was convinced she'd found her soulmate, in a glowing flash of light that turned out to be a tealight setting her quilt on fire. Twenty years later, her bed is burning once again... as she wakes in a perimenopausal sweat, night after night. This is the story of her journey through midlife- of the joy of letting go and the pain of the morning after, of the unstoppable power of female friendship and the struggle to raise teenagers as a single parent. It lays bare the exhilaration, agony, wonder and fears of being a middle-aged woman with a wild heart, a changing body and a new set of challenges. And as her world takes on a different shape, there's something else she starts to feel- the hot flush of possibility... 'Wickedly funny, deliciously candid and deeply moving' RACHEL CLARKE, author of Dear Life 'Give Quilt on Fire to your daughter, mother, sister, friends. A howlingly good midlife battle cry' JESS KIDD, author of Things in Jars 'Brilliant... Like having an honest conversation with a smart and funny friend' CATHY RENTZENBRINK, author of Dear Reader

Christie Watson's first novel, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away, won the Costa First Novel Award; her second, Where Women Are Kings, achieved international critical acclaim; and her nursing memoir, The Language of Kindness, was a number one bestseller. In 2020, during the first peak of the pandemic, she published The Courage to Care and briefly returned to clinical work. Christie was shocked not only by the changing world, but her changing body, as her perimenopause took hold. Quilt on Fire, her fifth book, is the funny, honest and liberating account of her midlife journey.

Literary, gritty, joyful and very, very funny, reading Quilt on Fire is like hanging out with a best friend, one who knows you so well that she can see inside your soul... Virgina Woolf-sharp -- Stacey Duguid * Sunday Telegraph * A superb chronicle of midlife and the chaos of the perimenopause. Candid, humorous, insightful, deeply empathetic, inspiring and utterly necessary * i Paper * You don't have to be in midlife to appreciate this funny, real, empathetic memoir about the multitudes contained in every woman... You'll feel as if you've found a kindred spirit * Red * [Quilt on Fire] stood out for its honesty and humour... A must-read for any woman in midlife * Good Housekeeping, 'This month's 10 books to read right now' * A funny, frank and informative blend of personal writing, research and conversations with friends... [Watson's] descriptions of her failing body are vivid and unflinching... Passages are moving, humbling and written with beautiful detail -- Marianne Power * The Times *