Forty in the Female Lane

Patsy A. Mills was born in Alabama and spent her formative years in Tennessee and Kentucky. That southern indoctrination was the deciding mold for much of her early approach to life and has been a large part of the persons who make up Forty in the Female Lane. Forty in the Female Lane is a novella which details the lives of five women who were in high school together and will meet again for their fortieth high school reunion. The story, written in narrative form, examines how each of the women pioneered a life in America in the Eisenhower fifties, the social changes of the sixties, the turbulent seventies, the self-involved eighties, and finally, the nineties with all the technological and social changes of the world culture. The book is an affirming look at what women in their later years can expect and achieve. The individuality of each woman as she reacts with the culture she is a part of, is a testament to each woman's ability to survive and prosper in a culture that is not always supportive.