Women over the age of fifty-five who live alone are the fastest-growing population group in the United States. And for a woman in her mid-fifties, who probably has more than a quarter of a century of living before her, the news is both surprising and encouraging.In this groundbreaking book, Caroline Bird reports on the hitherto undocumented world of lively, productive, independent women who are inventing satisfying new lives for themselves, mostly after spending years in the traditional roles of wives and mothers.In searching for these pioneers, Bird found an immensely varied group of women who are living full lives well into their seventies, eighties, even nineties. What they have in common is a zest for living that will inspire the rest of us - and, even better, show us how to seek out a future that may not be easy but that is full of possibilities.The women in this book are the pioneers, the success stories. For them, it often wasn't easy. To get where they are, they have had to be both inventive and persistent. In the second half of Bird's book, she documents the many, frequently subtle types of discrimination against older women. Read Less