Gladys on the Go

A housewife named Gladys finds her bliss in this brightly colored little giftbook, which, according to the publisher, is designed to ""celebrate, empower and amuse women of a certain age."" When Gladys, a slightly frowsy lady decked out in classic 1960s housewife attire (collared dress, pearls, pumps, an apron and a big pair of white cat-eye sunglasses) realizes that beneath the surface of her perfect life, her chores are boring, her golf game is suffering and her husband is obsessed with his new car, she becomes despondent: ""at the senior prom of life, no one asked her to dance."" But Thelma, ""the angel of lost women,"" appears to Gladys in a dream and tells her that if she wants to be happy, she just might have to boogie solo. Gladys takes her advice and embarks on a series of adventures, each chronicled by one of Povo's hand-colored, vintage-looking photographs and a bit of text (""She met sophisticated women in New York...""). With its positive message, its light tone and its silly photographs, this is rather like a 64-page Hallmark card for the beleaguered perimenopausal female.