Our Princess Warrior

Did you have a mid-life epiphany inspired by a comedy icon on your 2026 bingo card? No? Me neither. But as a forty-nine-year-old woman deep in the miseries of perimenopause and other half-century horrors, I’ve been seeking a clearer vision of myself and where I might want to go in the coming decades — and my progressive lenses certainly aren’t cutting it. Aging while female is a helluva trip, and since most of us are lugging around plenty of baggage, there aren’t many maps that show the way to a happier, more hopeful second act. Enter Mary Walsh with her memoir, Brassy Bit of Aging Crumpet.

Despite the cheek and boldness of the title — which conjures an image of Walsh’s legendary comedy character Marg Delahunty, Princess Warrior, with her plastic sword and glitter-adorned bodysuit — this gathering of deeply personal stories sees Walsh take stock of her fears, her failings, her pain, and her pride. Rather than a linear narrative chronicling her life and...