Linda Gravenson, Editor & Author

In The Fullness of Time: 32 Women on Life After 50

Edited by Emily W. Upham and Linda Gravenson

In The Fullness of Time: 32 Women on Life After 50 By Emily W. Upham and Linda Gravenson When this collaboration began, around a coffee table in the Hudson Valley, I was drawn to it from a somewhat different perspective than Emily's. I had grown up in the Forties and Fifties, before the maps of tradition were shredded, and had come through some of the losses she was anticipating but also knew of the rewards which can follow in their wake . . .

I've always loved the richness of anthologies, particularly essay collections created to explore a complex, even mysterious landscape. We decided to seek out writers and performers willing to go wherever our theme took them. The choices were theirs. Some of the most accomplished, prize winning writers in America, Canada and Great Britain responded . . . They reported on both the fear and the exhilaration of going deep enough to tell the truth. Their bravery is palpable . . . These are the women I want in my lifeboat.

Excerpted from Linda Gravenson's “ Introduction”

Read excerpts from “My Mother and Me and Betty Grable “ essay from In The Fullness of Time: 32 Women on Life After 50
(Atria, Simon & Schuster 2010)