Midlife Crisis Club – A Novel by Jane Coombs

Midllife Crisis Club

Background to the Premise of the Book

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 deeply 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.

Or if you want to read Chapter One of the Midlife Crisis Club, where Alex is confronted by Ellie the HR Manager who has some very bad news to impart, click on this link which also gives the background to how I came to write this book and why.