No One Tells You This: A Memoir by Glynnis MacNicol

Turning 40 can be terrifying for just about anyone, especially when you’re totally on your own. Glynnis MacNicol shares her story in No One Tells You This: A Memoir.

No One Tells You This: A Memoir is the real deal. The moment I read the premise, I knew I needed to add Glynnis MacNicol’s memoir to my reading list.

By 40, women are expected to be married or at least divorced. If not, the reasons are typically because of a belief system, not because they don’t have a partner. And even if you don’t have a partner, you have a kid. It might be okay to lack a partner or a kid by 40, but lacking both… well, that’s inexcusable! So what happens when you become one of those inexcusable women?

What if the story doesn’t end with marriage or a child?

This question plagued Glynnis MacNicol on the eve of her 40th birthday. Despite a successful career as a writer and an exciting life in New York City, Glynnis was constantly reminded she had neither of the things the world expected of a woman her age: a partner or a baby. She knew she was supposed to feel bad about this. After all, single women and those without children are often seen as objects of pity, relegated to the sidelines, or indulgent spoiled creatures who think only of themselves.

Glynnis refused to be cast into either of those roles, and yet the question remained: What now? There was no good blueprint for how to be a woman alone in the world. She concluded it was time to create one.

Over the course of her fortieth year, which this memoir chronicles, Glynnis embarks on a revealing journey of self-discovery that continually contradicts everything she’d been led to expect. Through the trials of family illness and turmoil, and the thrills of far-flung travel and adventures with men, young and old (and sometimes wearing cowboy hats), she is forced to wrestle with her biggest hopes and fears about love, death, sex, friendship, and loneliness. In doing so, she discovers that holding the power to determine her own fate requires a resilience and courage that no one talks about, and is more rewarding than anyone imagines.

Intimate and timely, No One Tells You This is a fearless reckoning with modern womanhood and an exhilarating adventure that will resonate with anyone determined to live by their own rules.