Agatha Doyle is 50 years old and negotiating her way in life through a household of men: her widowed father, her two grown-up sons and the husband she adores. She’s also raging, frustrated and irritated at every turn, but not immediately facing up to the fact she’s going through menopause.
Agatha is a successful writer of historical fiction and the advance for her new book is going to save the family café run by her hard-working husband, Luke. The problem is that she hasn’t written the book and is suffering from what might be traditionally known as writer’s block but is manifesting as an almighty brain fog.
Adding to Agatha’s worries are her heartbroken son who spends all day in bed and her eco warrior son who she fears is too good for this world. Her father is dating a lady so unlike her late mother that it’s shameful and whose tiny fluffy dog the household is caring for while her owner is in hospital. Dad practises his dance moves in preparation for his forthcoming trip to Cuba (with his paramour) and Agatha is so irritable it seethes from the page.
The novel is structured as Agatha’s diary, an exercise recommended by her doctor to chart and identify her feelings as she follows menopause’s gnarly path. It provides us with a hilarious account of a woman of a certain age who has no patience with the world and the way it’s treating her. Agatha is on a writer’s festival panel when she lets rip at an audience member who pointedly asks a question only of her male panel colleagues. The result is a video clip uploaded to the internet in which Agatha is in a full-on rageful flow. It is awarded the hashtag menopausethemovie and goes viral. Is this the shame that will sink her, or an unexpected opportunity?
Queen Bee is a delightfully funny look at what happens to a woman during menopause, told through the rantings of a fearless, intelligent woman who has lost her way. It notices what women suffer at this time and screams delightedly about how they can empower themselves once more with a great deal of humour, many missteps and some deliciously foul language. I laughed out loud at this fabulous, joyful book.
