The Bitch Is Back: Older, Wiser, and (Getting) Happier

More than a decade after the New York Times bestselling anthology The Bitch in the House spoke up loud and clear for a generation of young women, nine of the original contributors are back—along with sixteen captivating new voices—sharing their ruminations from an older, stronger, and wiser perspective about love, sex, work, family, independence, body image, health, and aging: the critical flash points of women’s lives today

“Born out of anger,” the essays in The Bitch in the House chronicled the face of womanhood at the beginning of a new millennium. Now, nearly fifteen years later, editor and author Cathi Hanauer has compiled a new batch of passionate, enlightened, often hilarious pieces that are less bitter and resentful, and more confident and content—a provocative and compelling companion collection that captures the spirit of postfeminism with authority, acumen, and panache.

Having aged into their forties, fifties, and sixties, these “bitches”—bestselling authors, renowned journalists, and other extraordinary yet also ordinary women—have brilliant and bold things to say. In The Bitch Is Back, Cathi Hanauer, Kate Christensen, Sarah Crichton, Debora L. Spar, Ann Hood, Veronica Chambers, and twenty other powerful writers offer unique views on womanhood and feminism today.

Some of the “original bitches” (OBs) revisit their earlier essays to reflect on their previous selves. All reveal how their lives have changed in the intervening years—whether they stayed coupled, left marriages, or had affairs; developed cancer or other physical challenges; coped with partners who strayed, died, or remained faithful; became full-time wage earners or homemakers; opened up their marriages; remained childless or became parents; or experienced other meaningful life transitions.

The Bitch Is Back includes:

  • bestselling novelist, memoirist, essayist, food blogger, and OB Kate Christensen on leaving her husband and starting a new life with a much younger man;
  • pseudonymous novelist and OB Hazel McClay on her low-sex marriage (and how she and her husband continue to be happy with it);
  • bestselling novelist and poet Julianna Baggott on life as the sole breadwinner in her family of six;
  • power publisher Sarah Crichton on the joy of sex again after sixty—after being dumped for a younger woman;
  • memoirist Lynn Darling on dealing with sex and sexuality in midlife, after beating breast cancer;
  • bestselling author—and former skinny girl—Ann Hood on not caring about her weight anymore;
  • and nineteen more eye-opening, jaw-dropping, truth-telling, no-holds-barred essays about what it really means to be a woman of substance today.

As a “new wave” of feminists begins to take center stage, this powerful, timely collection sheds much-needed light on both past and present, offering understanding, compassion, and wisdom for modern women’s lives, all the while pointing toward the exciting possibilities of tomorrow.

1123199208
The Bitch Is Back: Older, Wiser, and (Getting) Happier

More than a decade after the New York Times bestselling anthology The Bitch in the House spoke up loud and clear for a generation of young women, nine of the original contributors are back—along with sixteen captivating new voices—sharing their ruminations from an older, stronger, and wiser perspective about love, sex, work, family, independence, body image, health, and aging: the critical flash points of women’s lives today

“Born out of anger,” the essays in The Bitch in the House chronicled the face of womanhood at the beginning of a new millennium. Now, nearly fifteen years later, editor and author Cathi Hanauer has compiled a new batch of passionate, enlightened, often hilarious pieces that are less bitter and resentful, and more confident and content—a provocative and compelling companion collection that captures the spirit of postfeminism with authority, acumen, and panache.

Having aged into their forties, fifties, and sixties, these “bitches”—bestselling authors, renowned journalists, and other extraordinary yet also ordinary women—have brilliant and bold things to say. In The Bitch Is Back, Cathi Hanauer, Kate Christensen, Sarah Crichton, Debora L. Spar, Ann Hood, Veronica Chambers, and twenty other powerful writers offer unique views on womanhood and feminism today.

Some of the “original bitches” (OBs) revisit their earlier essays to reflect on their previous selves. All reveal how their lives have changed in the intervening years—whether they stayed coupled, left marriages, or had affairs; developed cancer or other physical challenges; coped with partners who strayed, died, or remained faithful; became full-time wage earners or homemakers; opened up their marriages; remained childless or became parents; or experienced other meaningful life transitions.

The Bitch Is Back includes:

  • bestselling novelist, memoirist, essayist, food blogger, and OB Kate Christensen on leaving her husband and starting a new life with a much younger man;
  • pseudonymous novelist and OB Hazel McClay on her low-sex marriage (and how she and her husband continue to be happy with it);
  • bestselling novelist and poet Julianna Baggott on life as the sole breadwinner in her family of six;
  • power publisher Sarah Crichton on the joy of sex again after sixty—after being dumped for a younger woman;
  • memoirist Lynn Darling on dealing with sex and sexuality in midlife, after beating breast cancer;
  • bestselling author—and former skinny girl—Ann Hood on not caring about her weight anymore;
  • and nineteen more eye-opening, jaw-dropping, truth-telling, no-holds-barred essays about what it really means to be a woman of substance today.

As a “new wave” of feminists begins to take center stage, this powerful, timely collection sheds much-needed light on both past and present, offering understanding, compassion, and wisdom for modern women’s lives, all the while pointing toward the exciting possibilities of tomorrow.

11.49 In Stock
The Bitch Is Back: Older, Wiser, and (Getting) Happier

The Bitch Is Back: Older, Wiser, and (Getting) Happier

The Bitch Is Back: Older, Wiser, and (Getting) Happier

The Bitch Is Back: Older, Wiser, and (Getting) Happier

eBook

$11.49  $14.99 Save 23% Current price is $11.49, Original price is $14.99. You Save 23%.

Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
WANT A NOOK?  Explore Now

Related collections and offers

LEND ME® See Details

Overview

More than a decade after the New York Times bestselling anthology The Bitch in the House spoke up loud and clear for a generation of young women, nine of the original contributors are back—along with sixteen captivating new voices—sharing their ruminations from an older, stronger, and wiser perspective about love, sex, work, family, independence, body image, health, and aging: the critical flash points of women’s lives today

“Born out of anger,” the essays in The Bitch in the House chronicled the face of womanhood at the beginning of a new millennium. Now, nearly fifteen years later, editor and author Cathi Hanauer has compiled a new batch of passionate, enlightened, often hilarious pieces that are less bitter and resentful, and more confident and content—a provocative and compelling companion collection that captures the spirit of postfeminism with authority, acumen, and panache.

Having aged into their forties, fifties, and sixties, these “bitches”—bestselling authors, renowned journalists, and other extraordinary yet also ordinary women—have brilliant and bold things to say. In The Bitch Is Back, Cathi Hanauer, Kate Christensen, Sarah Crichton, Debora L. Spar, Ann Hood, Veronica Chambers, and twenty other powerful writers offer unique views on womanhood and feminism today.

Some of the “original bitches” (OBs) revisit their earlier essays to reflect on their previous selves. All reveal how their lives have changed in the intervening years—whether they stayed coupled, left marriages, or had affairs; developed cancer or other physical challenges; coped with partners who strayed, died, or remained faithful; became full-time wage earners or homemakers; opened up their marriages; remained childless or became parents; or experienced other meaningful life transitions.

The Bitch Is Back includes:

  • bestselling novelist, memoirist, essayist, food blogger, and OB Kate Christensen on leaving her husband and starting a new life with a much younger man;
  • pseudonymous novelist and OB Hazel McClay on her low-sex marriage (and how she and her husband continue to be happy with it);
  • bestselling novelist and poet Julianna Baggott on life as the sole breadwinner in her family of six;
  • power publisher Sarah Crichton on the joy of sex again after sixty—after being dumped for a younger woman;
  • memoirist Lynn Darling on dealing with sex and sexuality in midlife, after beating breast cancer;
  • bestselling author—and former skinny girl—Ann Hood on not caring about her weight anymore;
  • and nineteen more eye-opening, jaw-dropping, truth-telling, no-holds-barred essays about what it really means to be a woman of substance today.

As a “new wave” of feminists begins to take center stage, this powerful, timely collection sheds much-needed light on both past and present, offering understanding, compassion, and wisdom for modern women’s lives, all the while pointing toward the exciting possibilities of tomorrow.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780062389534
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 01/17/2024
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 373
File size: 878 KB

About the Author

About The Author

Cathi Hanauer is the author of three novels—My Sister’s Bones, Sweet Ruin, and Gone—and is the editor of the New York Times bestselling essay collection The Bitch in the House. A former columnist for Glamour, Mademoiselle, and Seventeen, she has written for The New York Times, Elle, Self, Real Simple, and other magazines. She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, with her husband, New York Times “Modern Love” editor Daniel Jones, and their daughter and son.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

1 Me, Myself, and My Midlife Choices: My Way or the Highway 1

Five Crucial Things the Fifty-Three-Year-Old Bitch Knows That the Thirty-Nine-Year-Old Bitch Didn't (Yet) Pam Houston 3

Vagina Notwithstanding Jennifer Fianey Boylan 15

Gone Girl: What I (Don't) Own My Mother Anna March 25

Wrinkles in Time. Or Not Debora L. Spar 37

What's Love Got to Do with It: I'm Havin' My Baby Lizzie Skurnick 49

The "Other Woman"-Then and Now Kerry Herlihy 63

Dirty Work Kathy Thomas Cathi Hanauer 75

2 Sex, Lies, and Happy(ish) Endings: Because this Ain't Disney, Dolls. It's Life 89

The Coming of Age: Sex 102 Sarah Crichton 91

Still in the Heart Hazel McClay 105

My Filthy Little Heart: Love It? Or Lose It? Claire Johnson 117

Once a Week: Take It or Take It Grace O'Malley 129

Fifty Shades of Free Robin Rinaldi 143

My War with Sex Lynn Darling 153

3 To Hell and to Hold 165

Her Life. My Life: Two Women, Two Worlds Erin White 167

Jason, Me, and Jesus: The Other Guy in Our Relationship Veronica Chambers 179

Trading Places: We both wanted to stay home. He won. But so did I Julianna Baggott 191

Beyond the Myth of Co-Parenting: What We Lost-and Gained-by Abandoning Equality Hope Edelman 203

Now There Were Two Jill Bialosky 217

Living Alone: A Fantasy Sandra Tsing Lolt 227

4 Starting Over 241

Second Time Around: Letting Go of Convention (and Listening to My Mother) Kate Christensen 243

What was in It for ME: Saying Yes, Saying No, Leaning In, Leaning Out Rabia Hussain 257

Stepping Off the Scale Ann Hood 271

Getting It Right the Third Time. Or Wrong. You Tell Me Karen Karbo 283

Jes Susanna Sonnenberg 297

A New Life Under the Ladder Cynthia King 309

Contributors 323

Acknowledgments 331

Reader's Guide Discussion Questions 333

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews