A View from Life's Edge

In conversation with ninety-one women over the age of eighty in California, northern Iceland, south India, and among Sisters of St. Joseph in western New York, A View from Lifes Edge explores how, in the face of death, a sense of what really matters can clarify. Here we find a loosening of certitudes normally meant to keep lifes unwieldiness at bay, a chipping away at the illusion that any of us are captains of our own perfectly sailing ships. Reflecting on stories and opinions shared with her across the globe, Dempsey describes how a countercultural realism and an expanded sense of wonder repeatedly emerge in later life. These are offerings that call for our attention and yet face a double challenge. In as much as we strive to deny lifes finitude, we deny older adults their voices. A central conundrum of ageism is that we silence out of fear that which could quell our fears.