Life In The 40s, Told Without A Sugar Coating

At the beginning of my career, many of us considered Anna Quindlen to be our role model.

Her 1980s New York Times column, Life In The 30s, depicted what it was like to be a writer and a working mother. It was truthful, and well-told, and it removed some of the mystique of marriage and motherhood.

Glynnis MacNicol has done something similar with her new book, No One Tells You This. It’s a memoir of the year she turned 40, when she was single, living in New York, and did not have children.

MacNicol and I met over social media and I know a number of her friends. I’ve admired her writing for numerous publications, and sense of entrepreneurship (she is co-founder of TheLi.st, a visibility platform for “awesome women”).

But her book reveals much that I didn’ t know about her, and made me realize that there are many shared experiences between us — and maybe between everyone who is single in their 40s.

MacNicol tells truths that people often think, but don’t voice out loud, whether out of politeness or the reluctance to have people look at them, askance.

One of the most striking sections comes when she talks about moving into a spacious apartment in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn.