A woman starts to disappear-literally-in midlife, and only then begins to discover herself in this winning novel that will speak to anyone who has ever felt invisible.
When Tilda Finch is diagnosed with invisibility, a condition that strikes mostly women of a certain age wherein they simply start to disappear, she's not overly surprised. Tilda has felt invisible for years. She's fifty-two years old, her husband left her for a younger woman, and while she has two terrific adult daughters and a successful business, she often wishes she had pursued her true passion, photography. Instead, she puts inspirational messages on merchandise, and while she doesn't believe in most of the quotes, she's thankful her customers do.
Tilda has never really recovered from her divorce. Or, if she's honest, her childhood. Tilda's past has taken a toll and she's lost sight of the woman she had always wanted to be. And even though she's bumped into perhaps the most handsome man she's ever met, if he wasn't blind (yes, truly blind) he would see the truth, which is that she's a middle-aged woman, not in her prime, and that he's way out of her league.
Soon Tilda discovers there are support groups for women just like her. But after attending one and seeing how resigned the women are to simply fading away, she decides there must be a better way. She is introduced to a controversial therapist who is a leader in this burgeoning field and decides she has nothing to lose by trying her methods out.
The therapist makes Tilda realize that in order to reappear, she must face the trauma of her past and rewire her brain in the way she perceives the world, and herself.
In a world where women are conditioned to not like what they see in the mirror, where the voices in their heads endlessly critique their faults, “Tilda Is Visible” shows us that we can't expect the world to see us properly if we can't first see ourselves.
