When it comes to the publishing industry, it might seem like most authors are preoccupied with writing coming-of-age tales, twenty-something dramas, or characters experiencing midlife crises. There’s nothing wrong with those stories but we’re missing out on a large swathe of the population. Thankfully the tide has been turning in recent years with increasing numbers of books featuring what I like to call seasoned protagonists. This is a relief because while we do hear from younger readers who want to read about fictional characters who are their parents’—or grandparents’—ages, we have REALLY heard from readers in their fifties, sixties, seventies, and beyond who would like to see themselves represented in the pages of a good book.
Our phrase “seasoned protagonists” is by no means an official designation, but know that today we’ve gathered books of all genres that feature protagonists aged sixty and up.
Our seasoned protagonist book list features titles from a variety of genres ranging from historical fiction to fantasy to mystery. While characters in their 60s are most represented here, you’ll also see characters in their 70s, 80s, and 90s. There were so many more titles we could have included, and that’s where you come in: I hope you’ll add your favorites (please include the character’s age, if you know it!) in the comments along with your book recommendations featuring older characters in literature.
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Eight years after The One-in-a-Million Boy, Wood returns with another poignant Maine novel centering three lonely people, two of whom are in their 60s, who are connected by a terrible tragedy. Violet was just nineteen when, drunk and high, she caused the death of a beloved local teacher and was sentenced to twenty-eight months in prison. Harriet runs the book group at the women’s prison, where the inmates spend one precious hour a month finding comfort in tearing apart the classics. And Frank is the victim’s widower, who fills his time by volunteering his handyman services at the local bookstore. This 2024 Summer Reading Guide selection is a deeply moving tale of redemption, second chances, and the power of books. More info →
In this short novel, three sixty-six-year-old college friends come back together for the first time in years, reunited in Martha’s Vineyard, where they spent a life-changing Memorial Day weekend together nearly forty years before. That was the weekend that one of their friends—a friend they were all at least a little bit in love with—disappeared, and they’ve been thinking about her ever since. Surprisingly suspenseful but full of tenderness, too. Russo crafts a story of male friendship, family tragedy, and how the past is never really past. More info →
An address book provides a window to the past in this touching novel. Doris is a 96-year-old woman still living on her own in her Stockholm apartment. Aside from her caregivers, her primary source of socialization is her weekly Skype calls with her grandniece Jenny. With the help of the address book where she’s faithfully documented memories of her loved ones over the years, Doris reminisces about her time working as a maid in Sweden, modeling in Paris, and moving to the US before WWII. Translated from the Swedish by Alice Menzies. More info →
In the jolting opening of this historical novel set in 1969, a beloved 71-year-old drunk deacon named Sportcoat wanders into the courtyard of his south Brooklyn housing project and shoots the drug dealer he’d once treated like a son point-blank, in front of everyone. McBride then zooms out to show the reader how this violent act came to take place, exploring the lives of the shooter and the victim, the victim’s bumbling friends, the residents who witnessed it, the neighbors who heard about it, the cops assigned to investigate, the members of the church where Sportcoat was a deacon, and the neighborhood’s mobsters (and their families). The story itself is compelling, but it’s McBride’s warmth and humor that really captures readers as he gently teases out these characters and their unlikely connections. The audiobook, narrated by Dominic Hoffman, was impossible to put down. More info →
In this contemporary novel, a 64-year-old closeted gay postman goes on a journey of acceptance. Albert Entwistle is content with his life—he has his elderly cat Gracie and his work as a postman—until he receives a letter informing him he’ll be retiring at 65. Albert can’t make sense of how he’ll fill his days without work and this spurs him to finally look beyond himself and seek connection with his community. And perhaps reconnect with his secret first love along the way. More info →
This wistful and often sad story about marriage, happiness, and family centers around the thirty-year marriage between Graham and Annie. Graham owns a bookstore, and much of the couples’ life revolves around bookstore events (they meet at an author event!). Early in the book—this is not a spoiler—Graham suddenly dies. During the following year, a grieving Annie reflects on their life together, in the process tripping over new information about him and their marriage, causing her to question the very foundations of their relationship. More info →
No one would ever suspect 60-somethings Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie are professional assassins. And that’s the point! They’re great at their job for the Museum, a top-secret network of elite assassins. But in this rollicking thriller, it’s killed or be killed as the women realize their impending retirement might be more permanent than they want. It looks like their employer is trying to take them out with their final job. Fun and funny, I had a hard time putting this one down. More info →
This sprawling saga and 2022 MMD Summer Reading Guide selection featuring two octogenarian protagonists reads like a 19th century novel. Agnes Lee and Polly Wister have been friends their whole lives, growing up alongside each other in Philadelphia Quaker families and summering together in Maine. Agnes is beloved by the world as a bestselling children’s author, but not a living soul—including Polly—knows she also pens the popular and critically praised Franklin Square series. Polly knows Agnes sees her as a pushover, especially when it comes to her family, but Polly never lets on that she’s wiser than her friend gives her credit for. When an enterprising (and nosy) young editor begins pestering Agnes to write a memoir, she sets in motion a chain of events that tests the women’s lifelong friendship, and threatens to expose the long-buried secrets each has so carefully kept from the other. More info →
Eighty-three-year-old Helen Cartwright moves back to her English village hometown after sixty years in Australia. Her husband and adult son have both died and she doesn’t feel the need to seek out new friends. The quiet solitude is enough as she lives out the remainder of her life. When she finds and rescues an abandoned pet mouse whom she names Sipsworth, she has no idea just how much her life is about to change. A moving exploration of grief, loneliness, community, and second chances. More info →
78-year-old Judith Potts is a crossword puzzle author and a member of the Marlow Murder Club. She and her friends Suzie and Becks are looking forward to attending a lavish wedding at the Marlow mansion when the groom is found crushed to death in his locked study. The police rule it as an accident but Judith is convinced Sir Peter was murdered. The women’s friendship made this one enjoyable mystery. While this is the second book in the series, it stands on its own just fine. (This was Donna’s addition to the 2023 Summer Reading Guide.) More info →
In this tragicomic tale, Herr Schmidt wakes one morning to discover nobody has made the coffee yet—and his immediate thought is that his wife must have died in the night, because what other explanation could there be? Barbara is in fact alive, but unwell. As the story progresses, we see this curmudgeonly 70-something husband learn to do things he’s never considered doing for himself, let alone someone else, in all his long decades of married life: purchase ground coffee, cook a potato, run the vacuum. And that’s just the beginning of the adaptations this couple will have to make to their relationship as they enter a challenging new stage. Bronsky covers a lot of emotional ground in just 182 pages; I recommend Fredrik Backman fans take a look. Translated from the German by Tim Mohr. More info →
No matter how many times I re-read this contemplative and wistful novel, I’m always ready to turn around and discuss it with a friend. Hannah’s second husband Nathan Coulter (her first died in the war) was reticent to talk about his experience in the Battle of Okinawa. “Ignorant boys, killing each other,” is all he would say. In this atmospheric novel, 80-year-old Hannah looks back on her life and reflects on what she has lost, and those she has loved. Her recollections paint a vivid portrait of a complicated, loving family. I adore Berry’s work: he writes gorgeous, thoughtful, piercing novels, and this is one of his finest. More info →
This was a fun romp! This adorable tea shop murder mystery has serious Only Murders in the Building vibes and boasts a pleasantly large cast of (mostly) likable characters. When the titular 60-year-old widow awakes one morning to find a dead body clutching a flash drive on the floor of her tea shop, she calls in the authorities. (She doesn’t want to, but her son convinces her she has to). But, unimpressed by their approach to the case and unconvinced they can get to the truth of what happened, she takes matters into her own hands, with delightful and chaotic results and a feel-good ending I didn’t expect. More info →
Ishiguro tries his hand at fantasy, following an elderly couple in post-Arthurian Britain after the wars between the Saxons and the Britons have ended. Axl and Beatrice set out to visit their son whom they haven’t seen in many years. And, it must be noted, who they barely remember courtesy of a mist that’s caused amnesia across the land. As they journey, they’re joined by a Saxon warrior, his orphan charge, and a knight, and their memories slowly start to return. A moving meditation on the way war impacts memory. More info →
A quirky noir/murder mystery with a sprinkling of fairytale vibes set in the rural mountains of Poland. Janina is a woman in her 60s who prefers animals to humans and spends her days translating poetry, studying astrology, and looking after the summer homes belonging to rich people. Then a neighbor dies unexpectedly. And another one. And another one. Soon Janina begins investigating herself, certain mistreated animals are enacting their revenge. (She wouldn’t blame them if they were.) Now if she could just get the police to listen to her. This novel from the Nobel-winning Tokarczuk was shortlisted for the Booker; the U.S. edition was translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. More info →
This is one of my favorite Patchett novels. In this tense adventure story, Dr. Marina Singh, a staid Minnesota researcher, travels into the heart of the Amazon to find out how her colleague died. She’s also tasked with checking in on Dr. Annick Swenson, who is pregnant at the age of 73 and overseeing their pharmaceutical company’s top secret research project in the jungle. Patchett combines big business, fertility, conspiracy, and anacondas to fascinating ends. More info →
An entertainingly dark short story collection, translated from the Swedish by Marlaine Delargy, following 88-year-old Maud whose solution to most of life’s problems is murder. She’s gotten away with it so far because, well, who would ever suspect an elderly lady of such crimes? Without friends or family and no rent thanks to a fortunate clause in her lease, Maud is free to travel and do basically whatever she wants. That is, until cops arrive to investigate a murder in her apartment building. Content warnings apply. More info →
A heart-wrenching novel for bibliophiles. Aaliya Sohbi is a 72-year-old introverted child-free divorcée living alone in her Beirut apartment with books as her closest companions. Her family doesn’t know what to do with her, nor do her neighbors. Aaliya’s favorite pastime is translating books into Arabic, which she never shows to anyone. Filled with musings on literature, art, aging, and Aaliya’s past, Alameddine celebrates the way books show us who we are and the beauty found in a small life. More info →
Loretta Plansky, a recently widowed 70-something, is living in a Florida retirement community, staying busy, and focused on the neighbors’ gardens and her tennis game. Accustomed to getting phone calls from family members asking for money, she’s not surprised when her grandson Will calls and asks for $10,000 to get out of a jam. Except the caller isn’t actually Will and by morning, they’ve absconded with Loretta’s life savings. When law enforcement claims they’ll have no luck finding the scammers, Loretta takes things into her own hands. Her journey takes her to Romania and leads to so much more. I so enjoyed Mrs Plansky’s sense of humor, as well as the frequent jokes about American grammar. More info →
In this historical fiction, 64-year-old historian Helen Watt is asked to look at seventeenth-century letters signed by an unknown rabbi, which were found in the stairwell of an old house in London. These letters have great historical significance and, with the help of American graduate student Aaron Levy, she’s quickly drawn into the mystery of who Aleph was. The letters drive the story forward as academics debate their provenance in the present, while the past storyline introduces us to Ester Velasquez in the 1660s while she works as a scribe for a blind rabbi and a plague looms in the horizon. The characters are well-drawn and demand you feel empathy for them. A great choice for readers who enjoyed A.S. Byatt’s Possession. More info →
What books with seasoned protagonists do you recommend? Please share in the comments.
P.S. 20 books featuring seasoned female protagonists and 25 family sagas that will sweep you away.
