This Way Up: Old Friends, New Love, and a Map for the Road Ahead

A funny, closely observed, and briskly honest guide the pleasures and perils of living life fully as a woman on the road to the far side of mid-life.

At the age of sixty-eight, with children well-launched and husband long-exed and recently retired from a demanding career, Cathrin Bradbury realized she needed a map--several in fact, some physical, some of the mind and heart--to guide her through the coming milestones and all of the inevitable "comes with age" stuff.

This book is her report from the road; a joyful, polished, often hilarious, sometimes heart-wrenching exploration of the questions and (some) answers that arise when you hit the three-quarter mark of a busy life.

How do you stop shaming yourself about an aging body? (Hint: listen to the kids!) What are you willing to give up to pursue the creative passion you long ago put aside--and what might you gain in return? How do you become someone who allows the day to unfold after decades of list-making and agenda-managing?

And what might happen if one day, after nearly fifty years, you suddenly get a text from your first true love?

Drawing on her own life and conversations with siblings, younger family members, friends, as well as authorities in social science, philosophy, and literature, Cathrin Bradbury carries us with her as she explores this territory that we all hope to reach, taking on new ideas and adventures with insight, soaring optimism, and a bracing dose of humor.

Author: Cathrin Bradbury
Publisher: Viking
Published: 04/29/2025
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.68lbs
Size: 8.25h x 5.50w x 0.72d
ISBN: 9780735248632


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 02/17/2025

About the Author
CATHRIN BRADBURY worked as a leader and top editor of major Canadian news organizations and magazines for forty years, including as Senior News Director at CBC News, Senior Editor at Maclean's magazine, and Managing Editor at The Globe and Mail, where she won two National Newspaper Awards for Special Projects. She currently writes features and a column for the Toronto Star called "The 3/4 Life Crisis," and is a regular contributor to The Walrus magazine, where her feature article "The End of Retirement" was nominated for a National Magazine Award in 2024. Her first book, a memoir entitled The Bright Side, was published in 2021. She lives in Toronto.