List of works featuring middle-aged or old women

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Names

• Anne in The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
• Antiquity in Zeta Base by Judith Alguire (Naiad Press, 1991). A central character about whom the book revolves is not just any old lady, she is the revered old lady of this far future earth-based federation. In fact her name is Antiquity, to make the point. She is viewed as a bit of a doddering and perhaps senile old fool by many of the characters of the book, who are proved to be wrong when she is proved to be right.
• Gift in "On the High Marsh" by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Mami Gros-Jeanne in Brown Girl in the Ring byNalo Hopkinson. (grandmother)
• Molly Grue in The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
• Madame Guderian in The Many-Colored Land by Julian May (1981) (Madame Guderian, an older woman, is one of the central characters in the latter half of the book; she retires to The Many-Colored Land to help to right some of the wrongs.)
• Gwilan in "Gwilan's Harp" by Ursula Le Guin
• Harriet in "Malheur Country" by Ursula Le Guin
• Ista in Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
• Mrs. Klapper in A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle
• Laia Asieo Odo in "The Day Before the Revolution" by Ursula K. Le Guin; a historical figure in The Dispossessed
• Mircha Del in "The Last Song of Sirit Byar" by Peter S. Beagle (in Giant Bones)
• Ofelia, the protagonist of Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon
• Gytha (Nanny) Ogg in many Discworld books by Terry Pratchett
• Sophie - a young woman who is enchanted to be old in Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
• Hazel Mead Stone in The Rolling Stones by Robert A. Heinlein
• "Sur" by Ursula Le Guin
• Tamara in"The Pathways of Desire" by Ursula Le Guin
• Tenar in Tehanu and The Other Wind by Ursula Le Guin (grandmother)
• Jenny Waynest in Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly
• Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax in many Discworld books by Terry Pratchett
• Irma "Geddon" Wornow in Top Ten #1 - #12 by Alan Moore, et al.
• Yoss in "Betrayals" by Ursula Le Guin
• Mia Ziemann in Holy Fire by Bruce Sterling (1996)

Works

• Patricia Anthony, "White Boy" in Eating Memories
• Leonora Carrington, The Hearing Trumpet
• Myrna Elana, "Hourglass City"
• Suzette Haden Elgin, Ozark Series.
• Carol Emshwiller, "The Start of the End of the World" in The Norton Book of Science Fiction (Le Guin & Attebery)
• Molly Gloss, The Dazzle of Day
• Robert A. Heinlein , Citizen of the Galaxy (tough grandmother)
• Robert A. Heinlein, The Number of the Beast (sexy "older" woman, 40s? 50s?)
• Sharon Lee & Steve Miller Local Custom
• Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, Carpe Diem
• Anna Livia, Bulldozer Rising (1988, Onlywomen Press)
• R. A. Macavoy, Tea with the Black Dragon
• Marya Mannes, They
• Vonda McIntyre, Starfarers series
• Madeleine E. Robins, The Stone War
• Mary Doria Russell, Children of God (elder female character is alien, but feels very much like an "older woman" character)
• Theodore Sturgeon, "Granny Won't Knit"

Other suggestions

• Anne McCaffrey, Dragonsong
• Sheri Tepper, Gibbons' Decline and Fall (middle-aged female protagonists)
• Jo Walton, The King's Name (middle-aged female protagonist)

Sources

• Added Beagle, Moore, & some of the Le Guin cites from cavlec LiveJournal entry "http://www.livejournal.com/users/cavlec/38947.html Ugly and old women inSF/F]" from 2005/4/1. A few other entries culled from the readers' commentary (Robins, Lee/Miller, Elgin). Many other suggestions are in the readers' comments, but many of them seem to be for "homely" or "ugly" young women, not "crones." Also, many of the suggestions for "old women" really seem to be about middle-aged women. And certainly middle-aged women might qualify for this list, but many people seem to define mid-30s as "middle-aged" — so without further explanation I haven't included the work. It's worth reading through his reader list, though.

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