Phoebe McKinley and the Menopause Support Group

by helen stewart

Overview

Phoebe McKinley experiences menopausal symptoms when, after 35 years, she ceases taking Hormone Replacement Therapy. She forms The Menopause Support Group to connect with other women suffering through this change. Four members join her group.

 

Alice Walker is a disgruntled housewife, who is unenthusiastically married to a philanderer. She suffers mood swings, has an irregular menstrual cycle, and mostly, would like to go off and live alone in a cave.

 

Miranda Brown is an emotionally wounded workaholic who plunges into the world of anxiety and panic attacks that coincide with her shifting hormones.

 

Dale Wintle has a gritty, masculine nature, and is of the misguided belief that she is lesbian. She is in premature menopause and has an obsession for all things Swedish.

 

And Rick Karlsson, who is an American of Swedish descent. He loves new-age retreats and communing telepathically with angels. As a psychotherapist, he joins the group as a self-appointed counsellor.

 

The Menopause Support Group meet monthly, where they lament visceral fat around their mid-regions, hair loss on their head and hair growth on their chin; of which one member is actively encouraging. They discuss diet, herbs, the environmental impact on their hormones, and eventually discover a natural approach, returning their bodies to hormonal balance.

 

 

 

Praise for, Phoebe McKinley and the Menopause Support Group

 

Being a menopausal wife and mother of two, I was curious to read this book. I was not sure what to expect but was blown away by the unique approach to this subject. The author has filled all the characters with parts of her experience, wisdom, and researched knowledge, and it made me laugh out loud and cry at different stages because I could very much relate to it. It also includes lots of practical advice wrapped into the story that I have been able to apply successfully to my situation. I loved the storyline and the beautiful descriptions which drew me in, and I couldn't stop reading until I had finished. I can't wait to share this book with all my menopausal friends - and their husbands...!   Marianne Thomsen (48), Thames, New Zealand

 

 

Wow!! I could not put this book down. The characters, the wit, the wisdom! All of this makes Phoebe McKinley and the Menopause Support Group a little gem of a book. Can't wait for the next in this series.  Monica Sutherland, Melbourne, Australia.

 

 

Phoebe McKinley and the Menopause Support Group is an easy-to-read guide that helps women through perimenopause and menopause. In between the information, there is a great story that connects the characters. Laugh out loud funny.  Penny W, Warwickshire, England

 

 

Product Details

BN ID:	2940164490072
Publisher:	helen stewart
Publication date:	12/16/2020
Series:	Four Women and a Man
Sold by:	Draft2Digital
Format:	eBook
File size:	350 KB

About the Author

Helen Stewart was born in the winter of 1965.

She grew up on a dairy farm in rural New Zealand, surrounded by cows, cats, dogs, and chickens. Helen rode motorbikes and horses and sometimes fell off both.

At the age of 19, she left New Zealand. Her travels took her to London, Scandinavia, Europe, and Australia. This route has been a recurring pattern in her life.

In the mid-80s, a chance meeting led her from a nightclub in London to the sweltering tarmac of Athens airport, and then a 14-hour boat ride to the Greek island of Lesbos. She was clothed in black, wore steel-toe work boots, and had a mane of long red hair that strangers would stop to photograph. Her two week Greek holiday turned into a two-year stay.

While living on Lesbos she crossed the Aegean sea for Turkey. Sitting in a tiled room, in a palace in Istanbul, she discovered her love of Byzantine mosaics.

Eventually, she returned to settle in Sydney, Australia, via a cold winter in Canada.

Helen studied the traditional art of mosaic tiling and in 1991 set up a studio in Palm Beach. She lived in an old wooden cottage looking over the sea, with a cat called Woody.

In the late 90s, she left Australia to visit Lesbos and live in London, for the third time.

On her return to Sydney, she set up a gallery selling her mosaics, while studying bespoke shoemaking.

The decade following she resided in New Zealand with her partner Grant Mears and their children.

Helen began writing while living in New Zealand. She wrote a series of children’s stories for her boys before starting her first novel, Phoebe McKinley and the Menopause Support Group. Helen wrote this novel after experiencing debilitating anxiety and panic attacks that correlated with her shifting hormones. She felt the need to write about menopause because she could not fathom how little help there was for women during this significant time in their lives.

Helen Stewart now lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her partner, two sons, three cats, and a veggie patch.