Howards End

Another into a brief foray into literature. From Howards End by E. M. Forster, this is a description of Jacky Bast; I don't think she is strictly a menopausal woman being only in her thirties, but it is about the judgements that are made of women as they age. I won't quote the whole gory description of her appearance, described as 'not respectable' but 'awesome', from the boa, to the pearls, to the cheap lace and the flowery hat, but here is how it concludes:

"It was the face of the photograph, but older, and the teeth were not so numerous as the photographer had suggested, and certainly not so white. Yes, Jacky was past her prime, whatever that prime may have been. She was descending quicker than most women into the colourless years, and the look in her eyes confessed it." (p.49)