Five novels about coming of age later in life

Emily Everett is an editor and writer from western Massachusetts.

Her debut novel All That Life Can Afford is the Reese’s Book Club pick for April 2025.

She is managing editor at The Common literary magazine, and a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellow in Fiction.

At Lit Hub Everett tagged "five favorite novels exploring ... later-in-life coming of age," all books that "explore issues of money and class and economic stability." One title on the list:

Rowan Beaird, The Divorcées

After her nitpicky, nightmare husband throws out her diaphragm, twenty-something Lois leaves him, terrified she’ll be chained to him for life. But it’s the fifties—she can only run as far as her father’s house, and he might be worse. To win her freedom, Lois must go to a Reno divorce ranch, which is as fun a setting as it sounds. She stays for six weeks to establish residency in Nevada, and the other women she encounters there offer a privileged cross-section of unhappy marriages and big, perhaps foolish, hopes for the future. One in particular draws Lois out of her shell and into increasingly questionable territory, but you’re so glad she’s out you’re happy to go along. The ending reminds us that coming of age is often about learning what you can and can’t live with—and how you’ll make that space for yourself—since you probably won’t get to have it all.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue