All about me – yes, but these tips on ageing are also full of wit and style
India Knight’s writing should be considered as one continuous autobiographical project delivered in bite-sized chunks. Whether she’s producing a newspaper column, a novel or, as here, a work of non-fiction, the subject is always herself. Sometimes she goes shopping (The Shops, 2004), sometimes her marriage stalls (My Life on a Plate, 2000), sometimes she wants to lose weight (Idiot-Proof Diet, 2008) and sometimes she needs to rein in the spending (The Thrift Book, 2009). And now that Knight is knocking on a bit – that’s not rude, it’s a phrase she would use herself – she has written a book about what it is like to be within hailing distance of 50.
The experience of reading In Your Prime is a bit like going out for a drink with a friend who loves the sound of her own voice and, you’ve always suspected, isn’t really interested in your opinion. Nonetheless, your friend has got such a way with words that you can’t help nodding along as she holds forth on everything from whether leopard-skin print at 50 really does make you look like a superannuated hooker or if it should be embraced as “the new neutral”. In the course of her monologue, Knight takes in eye creams (not worth it), the importance of never bad-mouthing your children’s stepmother, and why “fun” glasses, far from being edgy, will tip you into Su Pollard territory.
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