Background to the Premise of the Book
Midllife Crisis Club
It all started with a simple meeting. I sat with my old school friends, sipping coffee, and catching up on decades of my life, family, and everything in between. As we talked, something unexpected and amazing happened. I suddenly realised how well these people knew me—not just the surface-level me, but the real me, with all the quirks and flaws only people who’ve known you since you chipped your tooth in the playground and tried your first cigarette.
Their insights into my character were eye-opening and weird, because they were spot on. It was a feeling of being ‘known’ that was completely different from how everyone else sees you. They predict what you will like and how you will act. And I couldn’t stop thinking about how I might have fooled others but never these.
That simple, heartfelt session became a spark of an idea for my book, Midlife Crisis Club. I imagined what would happen if a group of friends, who had that same kind of history and fierce loyalty, were suddenly faced with the real, messy parts of life. What if their lives, which all looked perfect on the outside, started to unravel?
I also want to make it clear: the characters in the book are not my actual friends, and the serious and scary problems they face in the book are entirely fictional! These women are my own creations, giving me a chance to explore the themes of friendship, family life, rites of passage and how ageing changes us in a way that is sometimes chaotic and dramatic, but always full on. Unavoidable for most.
I hope you’ll enjoy reading about their journey as much as I enjoyed writing it.
What’s Midlife Crisis Club About?
When Alex is made redundant from her high-flying marketing job, she suddenly realises her picture-perfect life is anything but. Frantically searching for a new purpose, she ropes in her closest friends—her “Midlife Crisis Club”—to a drastic new health kick. But the true crisis isn’t about diet or exercise. It’s about a friendship group on the brink of coming undone.
One by one, their lives begin to unravel: an empty nest, a shocking death, and the desperate realisation that they are trapped in lives they never wanted. With their finances in freefall and a disastrous attempt at a business venture, it seems their best days are behind them. But it’s in the chaos that their group strength truly shows, bonding them even closer.
A hilarious, heartfelt, and, at times, terrifying story about real life, true friendship, second chances, and proving that the best maybe yet to come.
Midlife Crisis Club is a celebration of finding your true purpose when you didn’t know even know you had one… Pop over to Amazon and buy today. You will not regret it.
Perfect for fans of Marian Keyes, Jojo Moyes, and Elizabeth Strout.
Chapter One
Here is a sample of Chapter One where our hero, Alex, is enjoying her Monday commute to work, until she sees Ellie, the HR Manager waiting for her in the office:
Alex stepped in time to the ear pods blaring her morning music: ‘I need a Hero’ by Bonnie Tyler; taking advantage of the empty lift, she did tiny hip twitches until the ‘bing-bong’ of the doors spoiled the experience. People squashed in, clutching coffee and smelling of the morning, soap, aftershave, makeup, and McDonald’s. As they squashed her backwards, she contemplated them all avoiding each other’s eyes. London! She’d adapted too; for five years, she’d used this lift and knew the routine. The view, along with the music, was the best part of the day – watching the Thames through the glass wall shimmer below, snaking off into the early morning fog. Everything perfect. Pure bliss.
‘Twenty fourth floor,’ the lift announced with an American twang.
She felt the familiar lurch jerk her body. She didn’t mind. Every morning, it gave her a pinch of dopamine. Her floor. The 24th in this massive tower block. Everyone in London knew it. She pinched herself every morning—how had she got this dream job, and kept it? Not waiting for Bonnie to finish, she yanked the jack from her phone mid chorus, bringing her out of her fantasy and back to the real world. An ambience for just her. No rhythm or atmosphere, the swish of the lift upwards. Her domain. Her dream job. This year, if she didn’t get her promised promotion, she’d have to move on; even though she’d be happy to stay forever. But she’d been here too long; in advertising and marketing, lingering meant death. Execs got bored with you. The finance department must hate her with an exec salary increasing year on year. But she couldn’t leave – her job was so comfortable, secure, so relaxed. So damn seductive.
Alex enjoyed the click under her stilettos and flexed her aching feet as the lift doors opened. At the end of the glass office, amongst the empty desks, sat Jim, her assistant. He gazed at his PC screen, engrossed, under the massive slanting Benson and Benson sign, embossed with their famous golden logo. Even after years, it gave her a thrill of achievement. As for having a PA. How the hell had she got a personal assistant? No one else on this floor had one. She held her head high as she stopped herself skipping along.
‘I am so sad,’ she thought, but carried on anyway, schooling her face into the bored senior manager stare, everyone at this level adopted.
Others muttered the obligatory,‘Morning Alex,’ against the hubbub of the start-up sounds as she passed their desks, the coffee machine, fridge noises, clanging of personal lockers. She smiled at her team; bandied words with others and studied her phone screen for everyone else. The morning rituals were predictable and solid. Alex adored office life. Her lifeblood, where she understood and played her role as a senior manager, with the professionalism of a leading lady.
“Morning Jim.”
He dragged his eyes from the screen, his left hand hitting the escape button on the keyboard in case she noticed the football scores he studied. Instead, a spreadsheet appeared, replacing the footie. She noted his gelled hair and a new aftershave which swamped her.
“That’s my Secret Santa done, and doughnuts will arrive later. Team leaders today please. I need their update in 10 minutes. My office please.” Alex said, plonking a small Christmas parcel on his desk.
Jim gave a grimace of fear and ducked his head lower than his PC, looking like a child playing hide and seek.
“You might want to put that on hold. Ellie’s in your office. Been here since 8:30. She keeps looking at her watch.”
“Did she ask to go in? Blinking cheek.” Alex said, her mouth twisting.
Alex checked her watch. She wasn’t that late for London, but she was technically late. Still, she worked long hours. Everyone knew that. Without moving her head, her eyes scanned sideways to pick out Ellie sitting in her office, taking in her floral print skintight dress and gauzy cardigan. She looked as stylish as ever, poking a stylus on the work pad in front of her. What the hell was she doing here?
“She’s in my seat. Well, no doughnut for her Jim.” Alex sighed for his benefit and looked down at herself. Today she wore Capri pants in navy, a super-white shirt under her camel coat, with a sky-blue knotted scarf. Thank goodness she wore her high heels today, even if they almost killed her. Suitable for battle.
HR were the police of Benson and Benson and Ellie the Chief Constable, here to underline her lateness. Well, she was not playing that game; she was a senior manager, for God’s sake. Cheek.
Going In
Alex opened her office door with confidence and Ellie looked up.
“Morning. Excuse me.” Alex closed out the morning sounds from the open-plan office outside and took off her coat. She leaned over Ellie to switch on her computer, making her lean back to let Alex log on.
“Trouble on trains? Did you have a good weekend?” Ellie said.
“So-so. You? Sorry, I didn’t realise we had an early start today.” Alex said, opening drawers, getting out loads of papers and moving to look over Ellie’s shoulder to inspect the scrolling list of unread emails.
Ellie took the hint and scrambled away to the meeting desk in the corner, her composure gone, as Alex moved to open the blinds completely, taking away the closed box feel.
“It was a last-minute thing. Um, I have private matters to discuss Alex. Can you keep the blinds closed for the moment?” Ellie said, dragging a gigantic bag forward from under her chair.
Alex stopped in mid pull, feeling a flutter in her chest as the opening office blinds clattered into each other at the full stop. Not for the first time, she wondered who the hell invented glass-walled offices. She also wondered what had tempted Ellie out of her natural habitat of the top floor. Something serious? Roger gave promotion messages, though, not Ellie. Perhaps he was out of the country. Or perhaps they had an urgent job for her. Well, she was ready. Her chest lightened, senses on high alert. This might be it. Her dream job in the USA; helping with the new offices in New York. Everyone wanted it. Chinese takeaway tonight and a bottle of Merlot to wash it down.
“OK. Fire away. My team are due in 10 minutes.” In her excitement, she sounded like a sergeant major.
Ellie’s chin jutted out and a mild crease puckered the eyebrow where the Botox didn’t reach.
“Sorry, I need to give my team a briefing and…” She stopped as Ellie raised her hand, halting her mid-sentence. Not one bit HR-ish. This was odd.
Alex’s shoulders braced. What was it? Ellie was rarely direct. But Alex reasoned Ellie would hate to give her promotion, even if it were an emergency. Female jealousy was rife in Benson and Benson.
“This won’t take long. I’m sorry but Roger asked me to give you this.” Ellie held out a sealed A5 envelope, her name written in big capitals, bold and underlined. Underneath a smaller font, saying ‘Delivered by Hand.’
Her mouth dried and she tried to control the smile with difficulty. What a wonderful start to the week.
A swamping heat took over Alex as she scraped her chair out from behind her desk. Her stilettos clicked as she took three steps to take the offered envelope and rip it open. Roger, her manager, never sent letters, too old school. It must be for a special reason. She forced herself to focus on the written paragraphs, but they made no sense. Perhaps she had missed a sentence, because what she read was ridiculous. She flipped the paper over, looking for more words, an explanation. Nothing but blinding white blank space. Her knees nearly gave way as she took a step back.
Still, Ellie did not look at her, but waited as Alex read the letter again, her eyes picking out the offending phrase.
Bad News
“Redundancy! Me?” Was that feeble voice her own?
“I’m sorry Alex. I really hate doing this.” Ellie walked toward her but stopped in front of Alex’s trembling palm, held like a police officer stopping traffic.
“Where is Roger? He’s my boss. Or did you volunteer.” Alex felt the rim of her office chair at the back of her knees and sat. She shielded her face from the hyena in her office. What? Her head swam.
“Roger is tied up with a client, but he says he will catch up with you later this week.”
“That’s convenient for him, the snake. Only last week he said I was doing a grand job.”
“I got the impression he’s upset about it too and wanted you to hear about the decision today before rumours start. We’ve given you three months’ notice, and the Company will help you through this.”
“What about all my projects and the rest of the team?”
Ellie managed a small HR smile.
“They’re safe. No need to worry.”
“Oh, so I’ll get on with my work as usual and just leave quietly at the end of three months, shall I?” Alex controlled the sarcasm in her voice, but things were moving fast, her mind a maelstrom of questions, fears. A sense of impending doom stunned her into silence.
“Perhaps it will be better if you work from home today, clear the back log, give yourself time. Roger says he’ll take over more of your work now.”
“Roger the Dodger strikes again.” She said, unable to mask the bitterness in her voice. It must be a mistake. She’d seen his antics with other employees but never thought he’d turn on her. Her team were the highest performers in Benson and Benson.
Ellie didn’t respond, she concentrated on searching in her large bucket handbag and pulled out a file.
“Here.” she said, head tilted to the side, as she offered a shiny leaflet. “I am truly sorry Alex. Despite what you think of me, I do not like doing this. It’s the part of my job I hate.”
Alex frowned at the paper, unable to focus on the words.
Beside her, Ellie’s mobile phone played Darth Vader’s Theme from Star Wars—her boss, Roger, ring tone, once, this ring tone had been funny. But not today. She bowed her head, her eyes pricking, but fighting back tears from Ellie’s gimlet stare.
“Sorry Alex. I must go. Ring me later if you need to talk or call that number.” She pointed at the leaflet. “Sorry. Hello?” Ellie grimaced and shook her head, whispering into her phone. The external office chatter sounded loud, then muted as the door closed behind her.
Alex Reaction
“Happy Christmas to me!” Alex took the leaflet, folded it once, twice, and dismembered it with concentrated fury. She didn’t notice Jim at the glass door looking in until the office noise from outside hit her. He carried a red serviette with reverence.
“I rescued this sorry piece of Banoffi for you. Last bit. Had to fight to the death…” Jim’s voice tailed away , his eyes narrowed… “Looks like you’ve seen a ghost. Not you as well?” He placed the cake on the desk, and reached to put an arm around her shoulders but only managed an awkward pat.
“Do you know what she gave me? A shiny bloody counselling leaflet! Well, that’s what I think about that.” Alex gave a final stamp on the detritus beneath her desk and kicked it further away. Nausea swamped her. She had to get control; the screaming fits and swearing she’d do in private. Not now. Not now. Not in front of her team.
“When? What about…” Jim prepared to pull up a chair.
The tears were threatening, so swallowing, she rearranged her desk, head down.
“Sorry, I’ll need to do work on this. Cancel my meetings today.” Alex said.
The office chair gave a screech of pain as she pushed it back, grabbing her coat and bag and ripping through the now hushed office. Everyone looked at her. She wanted to run but kept control; she wasn’t that child anymore. Reaching the lift, she welcomed the bing-bong, and the solitude. Holding her breath to avoid the Benson and Benson contaminated air and an outburst, she waited for the doors to open. Praying no one would get in.
“Going down.” The voice of the lift intoned as Jingle Bells played in the background.
Biting her lip, she whispered into her trembling phone.
“It’s me. Do you have a minute? I …” She swallowed, still holding back, resisting the tide of emotion, until her friend Trish answered.
“Hi Alex. You OK?”
Then she broke, sobbing and stuttering a torrent of incoherent babble into her oldest friend’s ear.
To be continued elsewhere..
Available as an ebook or print
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Get Your Copy Today
Midlife Crisis Club (477 pages) is available as an ebook from Amazon click here, current UK price is £3:71 and available for free from Kindle Unlimited. Book reference code: B0F2ZVVF4W
Or there is a paperback version too.
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