Eating too much, eating not enough, having sex, not having sex, aging parents, grief, drugs, childhood trauma, and the last call of ovaries—a woman's body at mid-life can get messy.

Debbie Bateman's stories take a clear-eyed look at the largely unexplored private world of a pivotal stage in virtually every woman's life. These stories are linked not only by the characters, but also by the visceral themes of food, sex, exercise, beauty, and aging.

The secret clenching of a fist, the unwinding of a silk scarf, the proud refusal to have breast reconstruction, the women in these stories want full authority over their bodies and their lives.