The Seasons of a Woman's Life

"A HIGHLY NUANCED PORTRAIT, in every shade of gray, of individual women negotiating the transitions of what Levinson calls early adulthood *ages 18 to 45."

*The New York Times Book Review



Nearly twenty years ago, esteemed Yale psychologist Daniel J. Levinson wrote the groundbreaking classic, The Seasons of a Man’s Life, which became the stimulus for a revolution in thinking about life passages, helping thousands of men make sense of their own lives. Now it is womens’ turn. Based on exhaustive interviews with a diverse group of forty-five women, The Seasons of a Woman’s Life completes and substantiates Levinson’s thesis: that all human beings go right on developing throughout their lives in a pattern of amazing inevitability.



Firmly grounded in original scientific research, The Seasons of a Woman’s Life is unusual in being not only vividly readable but a rich source of insights and consolation. It speaks with uncanny directness to the dreams, emotional crises, inexplicable feelings, social conflicts, and psychological upheavals that mark each woman’s life course. Every woman will recognize *and find comfort in recognizing *the deep shape of her own life in the pattern it outlines, from Early Adult Transition (ages 17 to 22) to the Mid-life Transition (ages 40 to 45) and beyond. Alive with the voices of real women, perceptive and sympathetic, this book is destined *like its predecessor *to become a classic.



"AFFIRMING AND ILLUMINATING . . . PSYCHOLOGICALLY RICH."

*San Jose Mercury News



"HELPFUL AND ENLIGHTENING."

*Booklist



"GROUNDBREAKING."

*Feminist Bookstore News