Second Adulthood is a new stage of life for women over fifty. The first generation of socially emancipated women have reached an important frontier; they have fulfilled all their roles - daughter, wife, mother, career woman. Yet with longer life expectancy and better health they have no intention of retiring from the world. At the same time these women are experiencing an often bewildering array of physical readjustments: their brains experience a growth very similar to that in adolescence, they enter menopause, their sexual and emotional rhythms change. Such momentous challenges raise three crucial questions that each woman must answer for herself: What matters? What works? What's next? Drawing on interviews, science, trend analysis and her own struggles, Levine explores all the issues and offers countless stories of how others have answered those three questions. This is the inspiring handbook and companion for every woman entering these uncharted waters.