Amazing Grace Adams

Published in 2023, Amazing Grace Adams aligns with mass market publishing trends in “women’s fiction.” This is a loosely defined genre, often encompassing any work that focuses on a female protagonist’s emotional life; indeed, the term has attracted criticism for effectively cordoning off women’s experiences from “serious” literature, as no parallel term exists for works centering on male protagonists engaging in conventionally masculine activities. While much women’s fiction (e.g., romance) has conventionally focused on younger women, in the years prior to the publication of Fran Littlewood’s novel, a string of narratives featuring perimenopausal protagonists emerged on bookstore shelves. In Clare Clark’s review of Littlewood’s novel for The Guardian, she remarks that in 2022, HarperCollins “was ‘actively looking’ for stories that reflected women’s experiences and portrayed ‘menopausal women as smart, funny, powerful characters’” (Clark, Clare. “Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood Review – Hell Hath No Fury.” The Guardian, 25 Jan. 2023). Littlewood’s novel seeks to satisfy this call for feisty, empowered middle-aged women and to destigmatize the physical and emotional experiences of women like Grace. Much like Grace, Littlewood is the middle-aged mother of daughters. She has translated her experiences to the page to grant intellectual and academic mothers like herself and Grace space in the literary world.