Dr Amara Okonkwo-Lindell
GP with a menopause interest
Practical; listens first
The Change
Insomnia, anxiety and brain fog threaten the career she has spent twenty years building.
Planned · not started yet
Health & medicine Living with uncertainty Competing advice Workplace Hospital or clinic Bracing Reflective
The premise
Insomnia, anxiety and brain fog threaten the career she has spent twenty years building. Joanne learns about perimenopause, treatment choices and workplace adjustments, and becomes, reluctantly, the person her staff come to for help.
The protagonist
Joanne Penrose-Achebe — 49-year-old head teacher whose symptoms were dismissed for two years
The council
Every council member is an original fictional character. None represents, quotes or is endorsed by a real person.
Mr Daniel Ferrante
gynaecologist
Measured; weighs individual risk
Dr Hannah Bright
clinical psychologist
Supportive; mood is part of the picture
How the story moves
From crisis to stability over eighteen months; finding the right treatment takes two attempts, and Joanne’s experience changes how her school supports its staff.
What readers take away
- Perimenopause symptoms and diagnosis
- Hormone therapy: benefits and risks
- Non-hormonal options
- Bone and heart health
- Sleep and mood
- Workplace adjustments
- Talking to a GP effectively
- Long-term health after menopause
- Understand HRT types and routes
- Recognise genitourinary symptoms of menopause
- Use a menopause symptom questionnaire
- Request reasonable adjustments at work
The books
- 1Two years Planned
- 2The appointment Planned
- 3The treatment Planned
- 4Work Planned
- 5After Planned
Book titles are working titles and may change before publication. No book is on sale until the complete series is finished, checked and released.