Carol Lefevre’s book “Bloomer: Embracing a Late-Life Flourishing” was published by Affirm Press in March this year. Carol, who I first met through Writers SA some years ago, is a renowned South Australian writer of fiction and non-fiction who has published eight books, as well as essays and journalism.

Her book couldn’t have come at a better time. Of all the prejudices that riddle our society, ageism is perhaps the most pernicious. Ageism against women, compounded as it is by sexism, is a dilemma that’s largely flown under the radar. Perhaps because those who experience it are reluctant to protest, afraid of being stigmatized as silly old women.

Carol, a woman in her seventies, is not afraid. On the contrary, she’s perfectly happy to be called old. “What, after all, is wrong with being old and saying so?” she asks. What is wrong with it and what forms the theme of her book, is not our accumulated years but the wrong-headed and harmful assumptions that are made about us based on those years.

What’s rarely discussed when it comes to ageism are the benefits of getting old, nowhere more evident than in this book. The wisdom, intelligence and compassion that shine through every page are the very qualities that flourish with age. In addition to the crucial nature of its message, “Bloomer” is beautifully and movingly written. Carol’s writing on her garden is pure poetry.

As a passionate gardener she’s committed to the idea of gardens as places of healing and restoration, and as such the book is structured to align with seasons in the garden. By linking inevitably painful passages of old age with the organic life and death cycle of nature, she shows how these are as much a part of life as love and happiness. It’s a wide-ranging coverage of age-related topics, such as dementia, assisted dying, homelessness, bereavement and illness, almost all of which we or our loved ones will confront. As she mentions, because no-one prepares us for this, it’s our responsibility to prepare ourselves.

Carol has teamed up with artist Margaret Ambridge and there are beautiful works in charcoal and ink interspersed with the text. The inspiration for Ambridge’s works was Carol’s garden journal and the result is a mutually complementary blending of the visual and the literary that makes the book an object of beauty.

While not shying away from addressing difficult issues, the overall message of the book is strongly positive. Ageing is seen overwhelmingly in today’s culture as an all-encompassing decline, the ravages of which we should be doing everything in our power to avoid. Carol suggests, on the contrary, that growing older is rich with unexplored opportunities. Growth and learning can continue until our last breath.

As I wrote in my post “Women Writers of a Certain Age,” many women find a greater sense of purpose in later life. As well, there is plenty of evidence to show creativity doesn’t decline with age but rather can evolve into newer and richer phases.

Ingrained prejudice can only be changed by refuting false assumptions, which “Bloomer” does with aplomb. As an old woman myself, I know only too well how daunting it can be to be stereotyped as worthless and past it. In fact, finally throwing off the shackles of the cultural indoctrination that decreed a woman’s prime purpose in the world is to please others, I’m now enjoying some of the most productive years of my life.

While I’m a member of the same demographic as Carol, when it comes to the validity of the story she tells, it doesn’t matter what age you are, it’s time to take notice. As she so rightly says, “for too long we’ve been fed an ageist narrative of decline and decrepitude, of ageing as a road that only runs downhill”.

Navigating old age is challenging, regardless of our resolve to manage it well, and life has a way of suddenly throwing bolts from the blue, but we can take inspiration from these words of Carol’s:

” … there are few signposts along the route from midlife to Old Old Age, and as I find ways to navigate it, I know that I will never have had greater need of the beautiful ordinary, the everyday splendour and moments of quiet connection with those I love and with the natural world”.

“Bloomer” is a rallying cry to which we should all pay heed. As well, it’s a totally enriching reading experience.