As I get longer in the tooth, and the distance between me and fifty shortens at terrifying pace, I have begun to look for heroines aged over forty. Partly because even though I grow older, I still want the story to be all about me. But also because heroines over forty are so rare to find. We become invisible, domesticated, hidden away from sight. The men have risen to power, and get to make the decisions or go on the adventures. So when I do find a woman past forty leading the story, I am delighted, because I see that life does go on for women—that possibilities still remain, that there are still new chapters, and that the wisdom that comes from experience has worth, and can lead to a new lease of life. Old women too can be explorers.
Here are five female characters who can still kick ass, even after forty.
Tenar in Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin
Le Guin was there first, as she often is. In Tehanu, we come back to Tenar, the heroine of her Earthsea novel The Tombs of Atuan, now a widow with two grown-up children, who is learning how power diminishes with old age. When the novel was published, many readers found it hard to accept that Tenar, who had once been a powerful child priestess, was now a farmer’s wife. But the book seems to me about living beyond fame and power, and, more, about insisting upon the value and worth of the powerless: the widow, the scarred child, the mage-that-is-no-longer-a-mage. Under the guidance of Moss, an elderly witch, Tenar builds a new family from the lost, the scarred, and the abandoned. And Le Guin takes her most iconic series, and remakes it, root and branch.
Buy the Book
The Books of Earthsea
Cordelia Vorkosigan in Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold
Fans of Bujold’s space opera series the Vorkosigan Saga have, over the last thirty years, loved her sensible, intelligent, and resourceful heroine, from the beginning of her story as Captain Naismith, commanding a ship during a war; watching her run away with Admiral Aral Vorkosigan, who happens to be on the other side; and, as Regent-Consort, becoming the most powerful woman (behind the throne, of course) in the Barrayaran Empire, responsible for the education of its young Emperor. In this most recent novel in the series, Cordelia is older, and widowed, and about to reinvent herself once again. Other books in the series are military sf with a spin; this novel concerns parenting, and the new forms of family that technological innovation will allow. You won’t want to start the series with this book—but that’s OK. The whole series is a marvel. (I should also mention Bujold’s fantasy novel Paladin of Souls: at the start of the book, its heroine, Ista, is a widow, a dowager queen, and surplus to requirements. By the end she is… Well, should read this brilliant, subversive novel (and its counterpart, The Curse of Chalion), and see.)
Buy the Book
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen
Dr Katherine Pulaski in Star Trek: The Next Generation
I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation as it came out on video in the UK, long before the Internet. This meant I had no idea of the received wisdom about the show, and so I had no idea that I wasn’t supposed to like Dr Pulaski. Determined, straight-talking, confident in her abilities, and more than a little crotchety—I loved Pulaski! She arrives on the Enterprise, does her thing, annoys everyone, and leaves. I thought she was a hoot. Pulaski mixes up the chemistry of the show, and she’s nobody’s fool. I’d love to see her and Picard in a screwball comedy, the holodeck version of The Thin Man, with Picard as Nora (adventurous and curious) and Pulaski as Nick (hard-drinking and wise-cracking). That’s a show I’d watch in a heartbeat.
Helen Kane in The Wanderers by Meg Howrey
Meg Howrey’s richly imagined novel concerns a mission to Mars—with a twist. We follow the three astronauts selected not as they blast off for Mars, but as they embark upon a seventeen-month simulation of the mission. At the heart of the book is the world’s most famous woman astronaut, Helen Kane, a collected, ambitious, and intelligent woman who has worked her whole life for this chance. Helen is fully realised: as career woman, as widow, and as mother—her relationship with her daughter Mireille, an aspiring actor eclipsed by her mother, is brilliantly and tenderly drawn. The book’s concern is the personal and the psychological; the rarity of characters like Helen make her all the more precious.
Buy the Book
The Wanderers
The many heroines of Vonda N. McIntyre’s Starfarers series
Vonda N. McIntyre’s Starfarers series began life as a practical joke at a convention panel about science fiction TV shows. She began to describe her ideal TV show, saying, “Hey, are none of you watching this show? It’s great!” and then decided she ought to write it. And she did—a four-book series about the crew of Starfarer, a deep space vessel ready for its first exploratory mission, when the government orders it to be retooled as an instrument of war. What do the crew do? Steal the ship, of course. The set-up on Starfarer is not like the quasi-military set-up of Starfleet (McIntyre also wrote five exceptional Star Trek novels). Instead, we have a faculty-in-space, making decisions by consensus, rather than issuing orders. We see a diverse crew: scientists, ecologists, alien contact specialists, a retired Nobel Prize winning scientist, and Florrie Brown, the first grandmother in space, who knows a narc when she sees one. This is a wonderful novel series that should be much better known.
Buy the Book
Starfarers
Una McCormack’s novella The Undefeated, the protagonist of which is a woman way past forty, is available from Tor.com Publishing. She has also written two novels about Dr Pulaski, Star Trek—Deep Space Nine: The Missing, and Star Trek—Deep Space Nine: Enigma Tales.
I always found Dr Pulaski kind of boring![.](//s04.flagcounter.com/mini/Jkzv/bg_FFFFFF/txt_DEDEDE/border_FFFFFF/flags_0/" width="1"/>)
Anna Marshall in the Spellsong Cycle.
Even though I quite disliked Star Trek: Voyager, Janeway would likely fit Ms. McCormack’s criterion.
So would Ivanova in Babylon 5
Ah! Another Pulaski fan! I always admired the character who was simply just the ship’s doctor, arrogant and self-assured, and she was written in a way that gave her a few sharp edges that Diana Muldaur knew just how to project. As much as I liked Dr. Crusher, she was written in a way that made her softer, more nurturing and always placed as a potential love interest for Picard. Katherine Pulaski had none of that – she was just a competent medical officer and that’s that.
If you’re looking for suggestions, this website’s archive contains a Sleeps With Monsters post along these lines: “Where Are the Older Women?”
Polgara, from the Belgariad books of David Eddings, might qualify – shes a couple millenia old…?
You mentioned Bujold’s Ista, so I’ll put in a plug for Martha Wells’ Maskelle in WHEEL OF THE INFINITE; Captain Ralya in Helen S. Wright’s A MATTER OF OATHS; and Halla in T. Kingfisher’s SWORDHEART.
Clearly I need to pick up the Kane and McIntyre books as well!
In The Curse of Chalion, ingénue Ista is a plaything of the Gods.
In Paladin of Souls, mature Ista is the playmate of a God.
I do have to admit I have a certain fondness for Pulaski outside of what is the ‘general consensus’ but I still can’t get over her refusal to pronounce Data’s name properly. So…there :)
Edie Banister, from Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway.
This could be tricky. Are you referring to women who live a natural lifespan?
Granny fuckin’ Weatherwax, fools!
(And also Nanny Ogg, but mostly Granny Weatherwax.)
In second place as far as cranky old badass witches goes there’s also Judith Mawson, from The Witches of Lychford.
Ofelia Falfurrias in Elizabeth Moon’s Remnant Population.
@12&13: Pratchett also gave us Sybil Ramkin, who, while perhaps not a lead character, is undeniably heroic when called for.
I particularly like the time where she was fully prepared to slaughter an arrest squad planning to feed her to a dragon. The being fed to a dragon wasn’t the choking point, it was them threatening *her* dragons…
I agree with every word about Pulaski. I loved her right from the start, and was so disappointed when she went away after only one year. Many years later I learned that most fans didn’t like her, and was puzzled. Now that I’m 52 myself, I enjoy her even more because it’s great seeing a woman my age on the Enterprise.
@9/Lisamarie: “I do have to admit I have a certain fondness for Pulaski outside of what is the ‘general consensus’ but I still can’t get over her refusal to pronounce Data’s name properly.”
Yep, that was bad manners, and showed that she wasn’t perfect. But she got over it quickly, and I think if she had stayed she and Data would have become quite close. Just rewatch “Pen Pals”: “My emotions are involved. Data’s friend is going to die. That means something.”
Granny Weatherwax should always top this list. Always.
If you’re allowing TV characters, how can you possibly overlook Melinda May!?! (Agents of SHIELD)
Before Tehanu, there was Kayl from Patricia Wrede’s Caught in Crystal…
Part of an elite adventuring team for the Sisterhood of Stars, Kayl left the order after the disastrous end to a mission investigating a mysterious tower. Now widowed with two children, people from several factions come seeking her out – the tower may be leaking magic, and the Sisterhood wants her back…
I have a deep and respectful affection for Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Mrs. Mawson. But I think that “cranky old badass witch” is its own category.
“Middle-aged heroine” is not quite the same thing, and it’s those women, between 40 and 60, witches or not, who are so sadly invisible in so much fiction. Cranky old witches get to be visible again.
The only example I could think of who hasn’t already been named is Jenny Waynest, an only moderately cranky 37-year-old witch, protagonist of Barbara Hambly’s Dragonsbane. (And even 37 is not quite 40, although Jenny doesn’t think of herself as young.)
Just a quick heads-up for those wanting to purchase: B&N only has two of Mcintyre’s Starfarers novels available as physical books, and those through third-party sellers; they are not offered in the Nook format. Book View Cafe has all four novels for sale as ebooks, plus an omnibus edition. Which I have gleefully purchased, along with my own copy of The Books of Earthsea – the kid got it for Yule – the LoA Hainish boxed set, and Heather Rose Jones’ Alpennia trilogy. Hey, the bonus paid out better than I thought, it’s book-buyin’ time!
Sephrenia from the Elenium books by David Eddings. She is several hundreds of years old. (Note is old as Polgara and probably not as powerful). But still, not a slouch herself.
I also believe Molly Weasley is over 40.
Would Amanda from Highlander: The Raven qualify as a heroine?
swampyankee @3. Huh. I never figured Ivanava to be over 40. Mid 30’s top.
Thanks for reading my musings.
AndrewHB
Charity Carpenter from The Dresden Files. One bad mama-jama.
@3, 22 – I’m rewatching Babylon 5 on Amazon Prime right now, and I agree with AndrewHB. I’d put Ivanova somewhere between 25 and 35, probably around 30.
Robert Jordan’s Wheel of TIme series has several major female characters over 40. If I have the chronology right, Moraine, Siuan Sanche, and Morgase are all in their 40’s during the main series, and Verin is 50 at the beginning of the main series. And Cadsuane is nearly 300.
Simka @14 beat me to it–Remnant Population is my favorite SFF book starring an old woman. One who is thought to be redundant, and who ends up saving a world.
Yes, swampyankee, Captain Janeway should count, and when the character was well written, as in the episode Counterpoint, she’s definitely my hero.
Melinda May, for sure.
And Donna Noble—or at least Catherine Tate—was over 40 by the time she finished her run.
great list, thanks![.](//s04.flagcounter.com/mini/Jkzv/bg_FFFFFF/txt_DEDEDE/border_FFFFFF/flags_0/" width="1"/>)
The Second Night of Summer is a story in James H. Schmitz’s Agent of Vega series.
Grandma Wannattel must thwart an alien invasion. If she fails, her planet will be scrubbed clean of life to keep the invasion from spreading.
Essen in NK Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy starts off at 42 in the first book. Very powerful and determined even as she is grieving.
The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe is amazing by Kij Johnson. It’s one of the few books where the main character is an older woman (55) and it really made me sad that this perspective is so rare.
Elizabeth Orme from the Saga of Pliocene Exile by Julian May is 45. Another over 40 character in the series is Madame Guderian, who ends up becoming a freedom fighter.
@25 Verin is nearer 150 than 50 actually, I believe?
WoT has lots of excellent older women, but many of them are still pretty spry due to an extended lifespan. Also, like Granny, they have special powers so I am not sure if they fit here. If they do, we definitely should include Sethra Lavode as well!
I would also add Gillian Baskin from Startide Rising and the later Uplift books, not old old, but definitely no longer young.
No love for Wynne from Dragon Age: Origins?
Marjorie Westriding, in Grass. In later novels Sheri S. Tepper writes her as the Cranky Old Crone that many people in this thread are conflating with Heroine Over Forty, but in the first novel Marjorie is in her forties, wife to a straying husband, mother to ungrateful teenagers (who, if this was a YA novel, would be the protagonists) and a rider of horses – and, as we discover, other things.
Expanding the topic to non-human women above 40: Pyanfar Chanur from the Compact books by C. J. Cherryh. I can´t remember if her age was ever mentioned – and it would be difficult to translate anyway given that she is a Hani and grew up on a different planet – but with two adult kids (ungrateful brats that they are) she definitely falls in this category. She and her crew of also mostly elderly women definitely kick ass in the novels, dealing with warlords, a weird alien (calling himself “human”), conspiracies, preventing the destruction of their whole species, powerful beings so alien that communication is impossible, all while her private life is in turmoil as well. Still, in the end Pyanfar comes out battered and bruised but having bent the universe to her will. Fantastic character!
Sarah, the astronomer (a scientist!) from Robert J. Sawyer’s novel Rollback. Sawyer seems to me like one of the most unedrvalued English language SF writer of today. Also, Kyle, the psychologist (yet another scientist!) from his novel Factoring Humanity. He had another novel where one of the protagonist was a female alien, but I can’t remember the title and the age of course menat different things, but she was mature enough – she had traveled between stars at near-light-speed, so it was measured in hundreds of yeras.
I don’t really count heroines that are only chronologically over 40 (Polgara maintained an appearance of 25 years old from memory).
Elizabeth Moon is pretty good with older female protagonists. The pension-age heroine Remnant Population is particularly stand out in this respect IMO.
@33 Verin is nearer 150 than 50 actually
Yes. Somehow I had a mental glitch and read “849” as “949” when I did the age calculation.
Second (or is it third… fourth…?) Elizabeth Moon’s Ofelia and C. J. Cherryh’s Pyanfar, and would like to add another of Moon’s characters, Heris Serrano (and her employer/sidekick, Lady Cecelia), and C.J. Cherryh’s Ilisidi. Although, to be sure, both Lady Cecelia and Ilisidi aren’t the “kick-ass” kind of heroines; they’re canny political operators who Get Things Done no matter the odds against them.
Mrs. S. isn’t the focus in Orphan Black, but she is a major character and a badass. Now I feel like I need to expand my television choices since that’s the closest to an over 40 female lead I could add.
@29 Fernhunter, that would be James Schmitz, author of Agent of Vega etc. Just making the correction for anyone who (like me!) does not know his work and had trouble finding it due to the typo. Schmitz is apparently known for writing great female protagonists who did not suffer from the stereotypical limitations of most female characters in SF of the time. I have ordered a copy of Agent of Vega!
And yet another Elizabeth Moon character… Aunt Grace from the Vatta series.
It’s been ages since I’ve read Daughter of the Bear King by Arnason, but Esperance Olson is 40 when the fantasy realm she was born in is able to get her back and explain she’s a hero born to save the world.
I put in a vote for Barbara Hambly’s Jenny Waynest of the Winterlands series. Mother, witch and sometime dragon, Jenny is a great character who has to fight all sorts of societal pressures to be herself.
@@@@@ 42, Saavik:
@@@@@29 Fernhunter, that would be James Schmitz, author of Agent of Vega etc. Just making the correction for anyone who (like me!) does not know his work and had trouble finding it due to the typo. Schmitz is apparently known for writing great female protagonists who did not suffer from the stereotypical limitations of most female characters in SF of the time. I have ordered a copy of Agent of Vega!
Thanks, Saavik. I fixed his name.
Schmitz is probably best known for The Witches of Karres. The witches in question are three young sisters, each with her own psi powers. Eric Flint, et al, wrote two decent sequels: The Wizard of Karres and The Sorceress of Karres.
The Vega tales were early works.
The Federation of the Hub series is more fully worked out. The two characters who get the most attention are Telzy Amberdon; She starts as a teenage telepath in Novice. And Trigger Argee; a hyper-competent young woman. She stars in Legacy.
In Balanced Ecology and Grandpa, the main protagonist is the local environment.
You can sample Schmitz’s work here: https://www.freesfonline.de/authors/James%20H._Schmitz.html
It includes The Witches of Karres; Legacy; and the collection Telzy and Friends.
I’m rewatching Babylon 5 on Amazon Prime right now, and I agree with AndrewHB. I’d put Ivanova somewhere between 25 and 35, probably around 30.
Claudia Christian was born in 1965, so when the first series of Babylon 5 was filmed she was 29. The character was born in St Petersburg in 2230 (Wiki cites the series for this) so was 28 at the time of the first series, set in 2258.
Mira Furlan was ten years older, so 39 when the first series was filmed. According to semi-canon sources Delenn was born in 2202 – so both by age of actor and age of character Delenn counts.
Susan Calvin from I, Robot (but not in the movie). Also, the 3 Chiku Akinyas and Sunday Akinya from Alastair (no relation) Reynolds’s On the Steel Breeze. Sunday Akinya is also in Blue Remembered Earth, but she’s younger and I don’t remember if she qualifies.
For me, General Turyin Mulaghesh from Robert Jackson Bennett’s City of Blades will always top a list such as this.
@22, @24
I would estimate 35 the minimum; Ivanova is second in command of a major installation in a post-war military. She would finish officer training at about 22; 25 is far too young for such a significant posting. Sheridan would probably have 25 years of service; Ivanova would be a few years behind that.
Well, by @47’s data from canon, my estimate is way off. Was Ivanova politically connected?
Ivanova is a commander (OF-4) at the age of 28. It seems that EarthForce follows naval ranks because her boss is a captain. In the modern military that’s the equivalent of an Army lieutenant-colonel or an Air Force wing commander.
Now, in a modern peacetime navy, that is unusually young; normally you’d expect a promotion to commander/lt-col/wingco in your mid 30s. Two or three years as a lieutenant, four as a captain, four or five as a major, there you are. Even an outstanding officer in peacetime like Reginald Tyrwhitt only made commander at 33.
But it’s not at all unusual during wartime. Guy Gibson, to pick just one obvious example, was a wing commander at 24. There were several Soviet four-star generals who were under 40, a rank you normally reach in your late 50s or early 60s.
And Ivanova joined the service either during in the immediate aftermath of an extremely bloody war (we’re “ten years after the end of the Earth-Minbari war”, remember.) Virtually the entire human navy was wiped out. Promotion would have been very rapid for the survivors, just as it was for Red Army officers after the combination of Stalin’s purges and Barbarossa. You see the same thing in armies that are growing rapidly, as EarthForce would have been.
So, for an extremely able officer, in a rapidly expanding (or rather regrowing) military, promotion to commander at 29 is entirely feasible.
Nathan Lowell’s adventures of Tanyth Fairport certainly qualify for this list. She’s menopausal, and just coming into powers that she has no clue about, but is wise as hell.
Essun from The Fifth Season is 42 and a badass among badasses
Chrisjen Avasarala in The Expanse series (books and show). A world leader who prefers to be a power behind the throne. She has a complex ethic, and employs a mix of blunt abrasiveness (including abundant profanity), diplomacy, and sometimes cruelty to serve her ends, which are essentially to serve and save, first Earth, and later humankind. Being a grandmother is also part of her identity.
Yet another Elizabeth Moon Heroine: Heris Serano from the Serano Legacy. Also another shout for Bujold’s Cordelia Vorkisgan.
I must add my praise to @14, @26, @38, and @40 for Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon. As @26 put it “One who is thought to be redundant, and who ends up saving a world”. This is one of my favorite SF books and I’m surprised it didn’t make it onto the original list. I highly recommend it to everyone.
If you are going to talk about kicking ass, I nominate Charlize Theron’s Lorraine Broughton from Atomic Blonde; juuuust over forty, kicks lots of ass and gets the girl (briefly).
In print, though, I’m having trouble thinking of protagonists in SF&F. I think it’s because traditionally that would be a time of domesticity in a woman’s life and that doesn’t lend itself all that much to action and adventure. That said, Ginny Matucheck (nee Greylock) was in her forties for Poul Anderson’s Operation Luna. She’s not quite an equal protagonist, but I enjoy her role nonetheless.
Amat Kyaan from The Long Price quartet! She’s a freaking accountant to boot.
Clara Annalise Kalliam from The Dagger and Coin series is probably one of my favorite older heroines (in an ensemble cast)
Sari from Gael Baudiino’s “Water!” books should certainly be here. Also, in the two last books of the trilogy, should Killashandra, of Anne Mccaffrey’s “Crystal Singer” series. For that matter, so should many of Anne Mccaffrey’s heroines. Lunzie and Sassinak from the “Planet Pirates/Ireta Adventure” series being prime examples. And one cannot forget the several heroines, even when not the protagonists, of Mercedes Lackey’s Velgarth books. Aunt Savil deserves a book all her own! Shoot, it seems in a lot of the books I read these days, that the more interesting stuff happens after 40!
True Brighton in Linda Nagata’s ”The Last Good Man”, excelecvt heroine in a superb near-future military SF thriller
Speaking of James H. Schmitz how about Toll, the mother of the Witches of Karres? We don’t get to know her very well but the one time we see her in witchy action she is very impressive.
My first thought seeing the title was Granny Weatherwax. And I am surprised no one has yet mentioned Honor Harrington, who by the end of the series would have fit this age criteria. And while I can’t remember her exact age, Captain Tanya Desjani from the Lost Fleet series might be old enough to qualify, and is certainly an admirable character.
Definitely going to check out some of these titles, and the suggestions in the comments too :D
“But the book seems to me […] about insisting upon the value and worth of the powerless” really interests me because these seem rather rare and would provide a whole different perspective. Often, even if the MC was powerless at the beginning, the story follows a ‘under dog turns top dog/hot dog’ kind of plot.
Molly Grue in The Last Unicorn.
Jenny Casey, Elizabeth Bear’s protagonist of her Hammered trilogy.
@59 I can’t believe I thought of Amat but not Clara. I adore Clara.
Diziet Sma is presumably approaching (if not in) her second century. All Tolkien’s major female characters except Eowyn (true, that’s not a lot) are hundreds of years old.
<i>And I am surprised no one has yet mentioned Honor Harrington, who by the end of the series would have fit this age criteria. </i>
Wiki says she was born in 3961 and the first book of the series, On Basilisk Station, takes place in 4002, so she’s 41 when we first meet her.
From the Fall Revolution books: Ellen May Ngwethu is also well over forty (at least a century old), as is Myra Godwin Davidoff, and Myra explicitly looks old rather than being ageless due to biotech.
Thinking about it, I’m having trouble coming up with many of my favourite SFF authors who haven’t written a heroine over forty. And looking at them they’re a predominantly male bunch.
Iain Banks. Ken MacLeod. Neal Stephenson. Paul McAuley. JRR Tolkien. George RR Martin. Ursula Le Guin. Terry Pratchett. William Gibson, probably (Hollis Henry in Zero History is over 40 or not far off it; she was in a band in the early 1990s so must be at least late 30s by 2010). Charlie Stross.
Susannah Clarke hasn’t but she has only written one book. Peter Watts hasn’t. Diana Wynne Jones hasn’t really, though you could quibble about Sophie in Howl’s Moving Castle, but I will let her off the hook because she writes almost entirely children’s books which tend to have young heroes. Ben Aaronovitch hasn’t but he’s locked into a single series which has a young male lead. Bruce Sterling hasn’t, I think – at least not at novel length. John Scalzi (and this surprised me somewhat) hasn’t. HG Wells hasn’t (and is unlikely to in the future). Martha Wells hasn’t, but, as for Ben Aaronovitch, she’s just got the one series on the go.
Akalya in Time Shifters by Shanna Lauffey is one of my favourite characters, ever!
When I saw the title of this article, the first name that came to my mind was Evelyn Smythe from the Doctor who audio series by Big finish. https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Evelyn_Smythe
A 55 year old professor at Sheffield Hallum university, she meets the bombastic sixth doctor (colin baker), when he finds there’s something wrong with her timeline.
She tells him off for interrupting her lecture, then ends up joining him on a trip back to 116th century England to right a problem with her timeline in the audio the Marian conspiracy.
She then insists her way onto the Tardis, literally telling the doctor that a professor of history wouldn’t pass up the chance to travel in a time machine.
Colin Baker has said that if the sixth doctor ever a companion who more like an actual married partner, there’s even a strong indication that the spiky, acerbic sixth doctor from the eighties Tv stories became the far mellower version in the audios as a direct result of his meeting with Evelyn. Both endlessly compassionate, especially to victims of atrocities, and yet not prepared to take any flack from anyone, even the Doctor, and more than ready to strike out on her own when she thought she was in the right, I can rarely think of a companion, especially one in the audio stories whose been so well rounded, indeed if any Tardis team was a true double act it was the sixth doctor and Evelyn.
Sadly, Maggy stables, the actress who brought Evelyn to life died in 2014 and is sorely missed.
Fortunately, Evelyn’s own legacy travelling with the Doctor is complete, albeit its still extremely sad we don’t have any more stories with her.
Indeed, her quietly heroic death in “Death in the family” where even on the brink of ruin she’s showing compassion to the confused and angry Hex is one of the most moving moments in Doctor who history, particularly given the fact that Maggy Stables is no longer with us either.
Dr Jane Holloway from Jennifer Foehner Wells book Fluency. She is the main protagonist in this space opera trillogy.
Maureen Keslyn, of Kerry Schafer’s Shadow Valley Manor series, is an absolute badass. Great books. Love the suggestions here, there’s more than I thought there would be!
@69 Given pro-long I’m not sure Honor is ever “over forty” with all our cultural baggage about what being over forty means for women. I mean, she spends the first few books being described as looking like someone’s kid sister.
What about Thursday Next? She’s thirty-six at the start of the series, but the last book happens when she’s (I think) fifty? She also has a child in her late thirties, saves the world (and the bookworld) several times, and is a badass, flawed heroine.
76: I know women over 40 who look mid 20s and are still regularly asked for ID when buying alcohol. They’re still over 40. Cordelia Naismith is going to be fit and healthy when she’s 100 thanks to Betan medical care… she’s still over 40 now.
ajay @@@@@ 71:
Bruce Sterling hasn’t, I think – at least not at novel length
Ah, you missed Mia Ziemann, the 94-year-old protagonist of Holy Fire.
Martha Wells hasn’t …
I’m pretty sure Maskelle in Wheel of the Infinite is supposed to be in something like her forties. Can’t think of any other examples at the moment, though she’s written rather more books than Ben Aaronovitch. Well, there’s the Dowager Queen Ravenna in The Element of Fire — her grown son is the King, so it’s plausible she’s in her forties — though she’s not one of the main characters.
In James H. Schmitz’s Legacy, Mihul is the Chief of Physical Conditioning, Women’s Division, at the Colonial School. She taught the girls commando combat and marksmanship. “She was a tall, lean, muscular slab of a woman, around forty.” Mihul isn’t the protagonist, Trigger Argee is. But Mihul is a player at the start of the story.
Ah, you missed Mia Ziemann, the 94-year-old protagonist of Holy Fire.
I did! That’s the one I haven’t read. Right, then.
Having tricked myself into re-reading Wheel of the Infinite, I can report that the main character, Maskelle, is in fact somewhat over 45 years old.
In Mercedes Lackey’s Oathbound series, Tarma and Kethry are partners. One a warrior, one a mage. They start young. By the time they train Kerowyn in By the Sword, they are well past forty.
Epiphyta @@@@@ 21 thank you so much! I’d read the first book years and years ago and looked for it and the sequels occasionally but never found them for a reasonable price. Just purchased and downloaded them and looking forward to seeing what happened.
Martha Macnamara in Tea with the Black Dragon (and its sequel, Twisting the Rope) would certainly qualify, I think.