I began writing SOPHRONIA AND THE VAMPIRE around the time of my 50th birthday when I realized it was time to come to terms with the fact that I could no longer identify with lissom young twenty-somethings. Evil stepmothers and witches of traditional fairy stories have always been older women and , granted they were usually malicious, cackling old biddies, but at least they looked like they were having fun and they had power which wasn’t something many women had in the old days. So while I was writing I decided to do my bit to reclaim the word ‘crone’ and revel in it.
      The most contemporary example of the crone that kept springing up in my mind as I was writing was Endora from the TV series ‘Bewitched.’ As a little girl I used to watch it religiously, every week hoping that Samantha would do something exciting like ride on her broomstick, attend coven meetings with other witches and create fantastic spells that would amaze the mere mortals she lived amongst. And week after depressing she never did anything but stay at home, wear a frilly little pinny and make dinner for her husband, Darren; and whenever she did anything remotely magical, she was always apologising because Darren didn’t like her behaving like a witch. By contrast, Endora, the crone, always had a fantastic time, weaving mischievous spells, treating Darren with the contempt I always felt instinctively he deserved and generally behaving disgracefully. I actually found this confusing as a child, because Endora wasn’t like any of the old ladies I knew; she always looked glamorous with her gloriously exaggerated eyelashes and wonderfully sexy clothes. It’s only now having entered that strange world of the over fifties myself that I realise there’s a lot to said for growing old disgracefully. So, to all you ladies out there of a certain age, I say it’s time to embrace your inner crone. We may not be as limber and toned as we once were, but as Evelyn points out in Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle-stop Cafe, we’re older and we have more insurance.
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