From the beloved New York Times bestselling author Laurie Frankel, an exuberant and timely new novel

At seventy-seven, Pepper Mills is too old to be a stranger in a strange land. She didn’t choose the Vista View Retirement Community of Austin, Texas—that would be her three grown children—but when she grudgingly moves in, she not only makes new friends, she falls in love. Then the exhaustion, vomiting, and confusion start. Her children and grandchildren worry it’s cancer, dementia, a stroke. But a raft of tests later, the news is even more she’s pregnant.

Once word gets out, everyone wants a piece of the press and the paparazzi, activists and medical researchers, all descending on Vista View as Pepper tries to determine her next move. Soon Pepper has some hard decisions to make—and some she’s not allowed to make.

Enormous Wings is an urgent novel about female agency and bodily autonomy, morality and mortality. It’s about what happens when you don’t get to choose. It’s about motherhood and family, sex and love and friendship, and how those bedrocks—even so late in the day—can still change, and then change everything.

I received an advance copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. All thoughts are my own.

I was drawn to this one strictly because of the premise. A 77-year-old woman who suddenly finds herself pregnant in Texas? I had to know how that was going to play out.

I absolutely loved Pepper. The voice is pitch-perfect, and I completely understood her. I’ve known several elderly women in my life who are as spry as she is, and I saw many of them in Pepper. She didn’t choose the Vista View Retirement Community in Austin. That would be her three grown children who made that call. But when she grudgingly moves in, she does more than just make new friends. She falls in love.

Then she’s tired all the time, and can’t keep anything down. Her children and grandchildren worry it’s cancer or some other life-threatening illness. But after a raft of tests, the news is even more unbelievable. She’s pregnant.

Once word gets out, the press and the paparazzi descend on Vista View. Activists show up. Medical researchers want to study her. And Pepper is just trying to figure out what to do next. She’s got some hard decisions to make, and some she’s not even allowed to make because she lives in Texas and their bodily autonomy laws for pregnant women are basically non-existent.

Pepper isn’t the only lovable character in this book. I absolutely adored all of the elderly folks she met in her retirement community, and the way they all rallied around her when she found herself in a predicament none of them ever expected to see themselves in at their age. The community that forms around her is one of the best parts of the story.

I also really appreciated the commentary on women’s bodily autonomy. Texas has horrible abortion laws, and Pepper finds herself fighting against those laws in order to get an abortion because her doctors don’t think she can carry to term at her age. The book tackles that subject head-on without being preachy about it. It shows you the real-world consequences of these laws on a person who never imagined she’d be caught up in them.

There are a lot of interesting topics here, and Pepper finds herself in some truly wild situations. The absurdity of her being pregnant at 77 is treated with the right balance of humor and gravity. And while I appreciated the look at such an important topic and loved the characters, the book kind of lost me toward the end. Mostly because I felt like it got a little off track. While I understood what the author was going for and appreciated the choices, it didn’t really seem to fit the rest of the book. This might just be a me problem, but I found myself thinking that the last third of the book felt like a different book than the first two-thirds. The tone shifted in a way that pulled me out of what had been working so well up to that point.

Still, I enjoyed it. The first two-thirds are strong enough to carry the whole thing, and Pepper is such a compelling character that I was willing to follow her wherever the story went, even when I wasn’t sure about the direction.

I listened to this one, and the narration by Becky Ann Baker was perfect. She really captured Pepper’s character in a way that brought her to life. If you’re an audiobook person, I’d recommend experiencing it that way.

If you’re drawn to books about bodily autonomy and reproductive rights, or stories about elderly women who refuse to be sidelined, pick this up. Extra points if you love found family and community, especially in unlikely places like retirement homes. Just be prepared for the ending to take a turn you might not expect.