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No One Tells You This

A Memoir

Audiobook
4 of 6 copies available
4 of 6 copies available
"I found myself underlining sentences, and then entire passages, that resonated with me, articulating the extreme inadequacy and sense of dislocation single women of a certain age, like MacNicol—and like me —experience in moments when others are growing closer without you...an anthem to choosing the single, family-free life."—Amanda Stern, The New York Times Book Review

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If the story doesn't end with marriage or a child, what then?
This question plagued Glynnis MacNicol on the eve of her 40th birthday. Despite a successful career as a writer, and an exciting life in New York City, Glynnis was constantly reminded she had neither of the things the world expected of a woman her age: a partner or a baby. She knew she was supposed to feel bad about this. After all, single women and those without children are often seen as objects of pity, relegated to the sidelines, or indulgent spoiled creatures who think only of themselves.

Glynnis refused to be cast into either of those roles and yet the question remained: What now? There was no good blueprint for how to be a woman alone in the world. She concluded it was time to create one.

Over the course of her fortieth year, which this memoir chronicles, Glynnis embarks on a revealing journey of self-discovery that continually contradicts everything she'd been led to expect. Through the trials of family illness and turmoil, and the thrills of far-flung travel and adventures with men, young and old (and sometimes wearing cowboy hats), she is forced to wrestle with her biggest hopes and fears about love, death, sex, friendship, and loneliness. In doing so, she discovers that holding the power to determine her own fate requires a resilience and courage that no one talks about, and is more rewarding than anyone imagines.

Intimate and timely, No One Tells You This is a fearless reckoning with modern womanhood and an exhilarating adventure that will resonate with anyone determined to live by their own rules.
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    • AudioFile Magazine
      Allyson Ryan narrates this memoir, a meditation on Glynnis MacNicol's 40th year and what it means to arrive at that age single and childless. While reflecting on the recent loss of her mother, MacNicol realizes that no traditional roadmap suggests where she should go next. Initially, Ryan's voicing of MacNicol's thoughts may strike listeners as a little too breezy during some sad moments, a little too sarcastic during moments of vulnerability--but she finds her footing. Ryan is adept at capturing additional voices in dialogue, including the author's Parkinson's-agitated mother and her close friend, Rachel. Moving back and forth in time, MacNicol's meditations offer candid glimpses of the challenging but rewarding life she chooses. J.C.G. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 18, 2018
      Macnicol, co-founder of TheLi.st, a networking platform for working women, incisively examines what she wants in her personal life versus what society tells her she’s supposed to want: namely, a partner and kids. In her late 30s, Macnicol was a successful freelance writer for several magazines, but got so burned out by the 18-hour days that she eventually quit. It took two years for her to find her footing again, and she eventually returned to writing and founded her website. She reflects on the path of her stay-at-home mother as well as her own independent, jet-setting life (“I had known early on that I did not want my mother’s life. If anything, I actively unwanted it”). She also looks to her friends who have paired off (some are happy; others confess they should have been less afraid to be single) as well as her sister, who discovered she was pregnant just as she had separated from her husband. Society, Macnicol writes, views single, childless women with pity, yet Macnicol takes pleasure in being a woman in charge of her own life. The self-affirming wisdom Macnicol gained about herself will resonate with countless women and men who wrestle with the same societal pressures.

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  • English

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