The Power of Unravelling: A Midlife Invitation

Midlife often arrives unannounced, bringing with it a kaleidoscope of questions, challenges, and opportunities. It’s a time when the life we’ve meticulously built may feel both like a fortress and a cage. Author Preethi Nair wants to remind us that what happens when we lean into this season is not as a crisis, but a powerful call to shed, reimagine, and grow.

At fifty, I made a choice that surprised everyone, including myself. I turned down a fourth book deal for my new novel, Unravelling, with a major publisher. It wasn’t an impulsive decision—it was a deliberate act of reclaiming my creative control.

I wanted this book to reflect the authenticity of its protagonist, Bhanu, a 59-year-old woman navigating her own journey of rediscovery.

Saying “no” to that deal felt exhilarating, like stepping into my fifties with a sense of liberation. But life, as it often does, had other plans. Shortly after, I got ill. My life slowed to a crawl, forcing me to reckon with who I was beyond my achievements and ambitions.

In the stillness of recovery, I began to unravel—and what emerged was the possibility of reimagining my life. Finding part of the woman I once was – both fearful and fearless, cowardly and brave, taking the best parts of her and beginning again.

Unravelling Takes Time: Embrace the Process

I want to tell you a bit about my younger self. At 28, after being made redundant from my consulting job, I didn’t tell my parents. Instead, I wore a suit every day, waved goodbye to them, and headed to the library to write my first novel, Gypsy Masala.

When every publisher rejected it, I bet everything on myself. I launched a publishing company, created a fearless (and fictional) publicist alter -ego named Pru, and hyped the novel under the alias. I (Pru) got the novel into the book charts and signed a three-book deal with HarperCollins. My alter-ego Pru was short-listed as Publicist of the Year, too!

But again, success didn’t shield me from life’s inevitable losses. In my thirties, my mother passed away at 59. I buried my grief beneath layers of busyness: marriage, motherhood, and running a consultancy. I stopped writing, convinced that suppressing my feelings would protect me from pain. For nearly a decade, I lived as the “good” wife, mother, and friend—quietly hiding from the parts of me that longed to feel alive again and desperately wanting to find a wat to resuscitate the wild, reckless part of myself who believed anything was possible.

Rediscovering Myself in Midlife

The spark that reignited my creativity and unlocked me came from a very random encounter with a woman in her late fifties. On the surface, her life appeared perfect (great home, family, job), but this was not the life she wanted, it was the life she had spent years curating bound by her roles by expectations and duty. She didn’t think that there was more for her.

Her vulnerability mirrored my own, and I began to see how many women—myself included—were quietly yearning for reinvention but felt it was too late.

I wanted to write a universal story that connected these themes so at 47, I began writing again.

My one-woman play, Sari: The Whole Five Yards, told the story of a woman whose seemingly perfect life unravels when her first love reappears and asks her to come away with him. I approached producers but was told that there was “no market for a 50-something woman.” This was the phrase that brought me back to life. We are not invisible.

My wild side that I had boxed to fit in, jumped out with a ferocity even I did not recognise.

Having never acted or produced a show before, I booked a theatre in the West End, rehearsed for over a year, learning sixty pages of dialogue and prepared to perform all twenty characters. On opening night, I had never felt such fear, nervousness and excitement all at the same time. But the experience of performing—of finally allowing myself to inhabit a full range of emotions—was transformative. The play sold out, the producer of “The Crown£ came to see it and it was optioned for television. I decided to adapt the play and write the novel, Unravelling.

Writing Unravelling was both cathartic and deeply challenging. So many times, I wanted to abandon the book and find safely. But something in me kept pushing forward. It took five years and so much to overcome self-doubt.

Midlife as a Time of Possibility

Our fifties are often framed as a time of decline, but I see them as an opportunity for reinvention. Unravelling isn’t just about loss; it’s about shedding the layers of who we thought we should be to discover who we truly are.

This process has taught me that midlife is a powerful juncture—a time to reimagine what we want our lives to look like. It’s not always easy. There are curveballs, disappointments, and fears. But there’s also the possibility of liberation, of becoming a version of ourselves that is truer and more aligned with who we really are.

So here’s my invitation to you: Take a step toward the life you’ve been dreaming of. Say “yes” to the possibilities, even if they scare you. And when life unravels, lean into the discomfort. You may just find that what emerges is stronger, more authentic, and more beautiful than you ever imagined.

Because if I’ve learned one thing, it’s this: midlife isn’t the end of the story. It’s the beginning of a new chapter—and it’s yours to write.

Unravelling by Preethi Nair is out now.