Backwards in High Heels

This smart and frank collection distills the trials and triumphs of being a woman, all in a gifty volume filled with whimsical fullcolor illustrations. In 15 subject-driven chapters relevant to women of all ages, authors Tania Kindersley and Sarah Vine’s essays cover topics ranging from feminism to face cream, motherhood to money, and politics to perfection. Titles like “The Danger of Romantic Love,” “Why There is No Such Thing as a Guilt-Free Working Mother,” “How Not to Go Mad,” parts 1 and 2, and “Why There is No Excuse for Bad Sex” develop into a tuned and sophisticated voice that is at once a mother, best friend, and shrink, revising expectations, bashing stereotypes, and illuminating the experience of life.

This is the ultimate sophisticated gift for any woman of any age. Both young and old will find familiarity in the admonitions, recollections, and powerful advice of two writers who have done it all. This “brilliant feat of realism,” so called by the Sunday Times Magazine, gently guides the way without claiming to have all the answers.