Menopause Awareness Month: Yaxley-based author's mid-life novel strikes a nerve with readers

A local author who has recently penned a novel about female mental health issues says the book has struck a nerve with women during Menopause Awareness Month.

Lisa Richardson, from Yaxley, says she has been moved by the response her debut novel, Broken Toes, has received.

“A lot of people are resonating with some of the thoughts and feelings discussed in the book,” she said.

“There’s definitely been a lot of ‘I really understood where she was coming from’.”

Lisa describes the novel’s main character, Georgia Florence, as a woman “in her late forties reaching that point in life where she’s beginning to question a few things.”

“She’s obviously hitting menopause.”

Inspired in part by some of her own experiences, the 50-year-old writer uses Georgia as a conduit to shine a light on some of the issues women often face – and question – in mid-life.

Relationships, friendships, parenting, success, and responsibility all come under the microscope as Georgia becomes increasingly introspective.

Lisa is keen to point out that, although the menopause plays an integral role in this tale, her self-published novel – which is available on Amazon – is not about menopause, per se.

“At no point do I say ‘this is a book about menopause’,” she clarifies.

“It is really about that point in life where people question [their lives] and I do think that that is sometimes instigated by the feelings that come about through menopause.”

So if this book is’t about menopause, as such, then what is it about?

“It is really a mental health journey as much as anything, which is something that is huge in menopause but not necessarily the thing that people talk about.”

As one of the key aims of Menopause Awareness Month, talking more about ‘the change’ is something Lisa very much encourages.

“It’s important that we all – women and men – talk about it”, she says.

“It’s important that we educate our children, and that it’s talked about as much as puberty and childbirth.”

Talking more openly will benefit everyone, Lisa suggests.

“It will make it easier on everybody going through their transition period and that means people won’t feel so alone.”