“The Book of Old Ladies reminds us of the true joy of reading fiction. This joy has little to do with what is trendy or what makes the loudest argument, but how literature sustains living. Ruth Saxton is an elegant writer, and this thoughtful book is a gem for anyone who understands the meaning of life-long connection to literature.”—Yiyun Li, 2010 MacArthur Fellow and PEN/Jean Stein Book Award-winning author of Where Reasons End 

"...thoughtful and thought-provoking....Her careful deconstruction of plot and character reveal more than a few misogynist literary stereotypes and provoke readers to think more generally about where our ideas and assumptions about aging come from. This can be a powerful jolt….The Book of Old Ladies asks us to consider the sexism that treats old women differently, more-often-than-not painting them as doddering, ineffectual crones. Can we imagine — and then create — something less demeaning? Literature, Saxton suggests, can send us in the right direction, but it is ultimately up to us to change the world.”—The Indypendent 

“. . .a marvelously curated collection of must read stories that carve a path forward for women who have come of age—and whose time has finally come.”—Julie Shigekuni, PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award-winning author of In Plain View and Unending Nora 

“In The Book of Old Ladies, Ruth Saxton offers readers, through curated conversation, the opportunity to defy the sweet-as-the-day-is-long stereotypes, and to examine the more fully developed, and—thank goodness—realistic senior women.”—Jennifer King, Director, Downtown Oakland Senior Center 

“Saxton teases out the diverse ways that the aging fictional women had to reimagine and reinvent themselves, just as she did, to cope with the demands of a society that dismisses their contributions and demeans their intelligence.”—Julie Chappel, PhD, author of Faultlines and Perilous Passages 

"Surprises and delights await readers of Ruth Saxton's The Book of Old Ladies, a fresh take on literary expectations as well as cultural stereotypes regarding 'women of a certain age.'"—Roberta Rubenstein, PhD, author of Literary Half-Lives and Virginia Woolf and the Russian Point of View

"The Book of Old Ladies is a stunning reclamation and affirmation of what is possible for women's lives . . . An urgent, necessary, and long overdue resource for scholars and general readers alike."—Patricia Powell, Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award-winning author of The Fullness of Everything and The Pagoda