IN AN AGE OF COMPARISON CULTURE AND GLOSSY SOCIAL-MEDIA LIVES, IT’S HARD NOT TO QUESTION YOUR OWN PROGRESS. BUT THERE’S NO RIGHT PATH TO LIFE AS THESE WOMEN, WHO ARE TURNING CONVENTION ON ITS HEAD AND SHARING WISDOM AS THEY GO, DEMONSTRATE…

PHOTOGRAPH: LOUIE BANKS. STYLING: BILLY LOBOS THE BEGINNING ...

Literary news andreviews with alocal flavour

PICTURES: GETTY IMAGES, PENGUIN, RANDOM HOUSE Water Moon ...

GH ’s books director Joanne Finney shares her pick of this month’s new hardback releases

by Harriet Lane (£20, HB, Orion) What lies beneath the image we construct of ourselves? Ruth, newly divorced and drifting as her daughter leaves home, feels invisible – until Sookie, her dazzling form