The Woman I Was Before by Kerry Fisher

A midlife fiction book recommendation

Not everything you see is real. Sometimes, your fabulous neighbors might actually be going through something else entirely.

This was a good story about three midlife women. They and their families are all moving into a newly built neighborhood on the same day. Kate is a paramedic, a single mom with a teenager and a secret past. For some reason, the clues to which spool out very slowly, Kate and her daughter are on the run and have changed their names. She cannot allow herself to become close to the other two women in the story–or anyone, for fear of her daughter’s safety and her own sanity.

Giselle is a privileged, wealthy SAHM, materialistic and unhappy; her two kids (a surly teen daughter and ever-more-absent young adult son) despise or avoid her, and her workaholic husband is distant.

Sally, married more than a decade to fussy, perfectionist Chris, can no longer deny her urge to be a mother, but Chris is already moving on. Sally, like Giselle, is obsessed with posting fake-happy documentation of her perfect life on social media. Their hypocrisy is stunning. This is a theme of the story: things are not what they seem. Don’t assume others have it so good because it might be a false front.

In fact, all three of these families are in turmoil behind their facades. The women need each other and the reader wants them to be honest and let the friendships bloom for mutual support, but this doesn’t happen easily. When it does, and we get resolution to their difficulties, it’s dramatic and satisfying. A good story about coming to terms with reality in midlife. You can see it on Amazon here.