Some women dread the approach of their fiftieth birthdays, fearing it’s goodbye to good times and good looks. Others barely notice the transition; they know how to welcome each age for its particular blessings. These are the women Jaki Scarcello calls ‘Women of the Harvest’-women who aren’t trying to turn back the clock, but reaping the fruits of a life well lived, recognising and receiving the real gifts this stage of life brings. Women for whom ‘fifty plus’ doesn’t mean less, but more.

Drawing on her own experience, as well as exhaustive research into other women’s stories-a series of interviews conducted in five countries-Scarcello shows with wisdom and wit how changing our attitude toward ageing can bring about a ‘virtuous cycle’ of rejuvenation. Women who know this embrace the years after 50 with a spirit of optimism and energy that is truly liberating. They understand that in maturity a woman has the potential for genuine elegance, a beauty more than skin-deep that sparkles confidently and generously from the eyes, and a whole new brand of personal sexiness. On a deeper level, they possess a secret power and joy, which radiates outward into the world and illuminates everyone around them.

These women who blossom in their 50s know that their time of life is a time of grace, and that it’s richer and more ripe with possibility now than at any other time in our history. Through their stories there runs a common thread of spiritual transformation-the harvest of a good life when it starts to divest itself of youth’s superficial anxieties. In the space that opens up beyond 50, experience and potential form a perfect fusion: this is the most fertile ground a woman ever knows.