To mark the publication of Quilt on Fire

As a former nurse, Christie Watson thought she knew everything about her changing body. Yet even she was taken by surprise as her perimenopause took hold. Quilt on Fire, her fifth book, is her warm and moving account of this mid-life journey.

In conversation for this virtual event, Christie will share the inspiration behind her new book – how, in her early twenties, Christie Watson was convinced she'd found her soulmate, in a glowing flash of light that turned out to be her tealights setting her quilt on fire. Twenty years later, her bed is burning once again... as she wakes in a perimenopausal sweat, night after night.

This is the story of her journey through mid-life: of the joy of letting go and the pain of the morning after, of the unstoppable power of female friendship and the struggle to raise teenagers as a single parent. Christie will lay bare the exhilaration, agony, wonder and fears of being a middle-aged woman with a wild heart, a changing body and a new set of challenges. And as her world takes on a different shape, there's something else she starts to feel: the hot flush of possibility.

Frank, funny, and inspiring, join Christie as she explores the notions of love, health and acceptance and takes a rueful look at mid-life with all the messiness, madness and magic that go with it.

'I adore Christie Watson. Quilt on Fire is full of her trademark candour, compassion and humour. A wildly entertaining – and necessary book' Elizabeth Day