Hags

Her book traces the hatred and fear of the middle-aged woman back through history . . . The greatest joy of Hags is its lively erudition . . . This eloquent, clever and devastating book describes the last remaining acceptable prejudice, one that is now even posited as progress: the loathing of older women -- Janice Turner * The Times * My polemic of the year . . . a book that could not be more necessary (a sword and a shield) in the current climate -- Rachel Cooke * Observer * Riveting, vital and impossible to read without rage -- Lissa Evans, author of Old Baggage Hags is rich and complex and witty and cleverer than I am. (You'd never get a male reviewer saying that.) I hope it won't be read only in an echo chamber, by the women who are, as Smith was once called to her delight, 'a batshit Mumsnet thread made flesh'. I hope it will also be read by young women who think me and the author terrible Terfs and bigots for believing in single-sex spaces; by young anyones; by the middle-aged and the elderly; by any man born of a mother; and by all those who agree with Smith when she writes: 'I am not frightened of change. I am frightened of things staying the same.' -- Rose George * Spectator * Devastating and clever -- Bel Mooney * Daily Mail * Smith makes an impassioned, powerful case . . . Hags can't come soon enough' * Mail on Sunday * Deftly illustrates how ageist misogyny remains an acceptable prejudice and, in laying out the ignominies visited upon middle-aged women, feels justifiably livid -- Fiona Sturges * Guardian * A brilliantly witty, engaging and insightful book; a righteous polemic which examines and questions why so much hatred is directed towards middle-aged women - and, crucially, what this means for women today . . . a punchy, thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable read -- Eleanor Fleming * Scotsman *