It is said that women start feeling invisible after a certain age, but what if you woke up one morning and that sensation has manifested itself into fact? Worse, what if your family doesn't realize it? Such is the case for Clover Hobart, a fiftysomething stay-at-home mom and part-time journalist. On a seemingly normal weekday morning, Clover wakes up invisible. With the help of Gilda, her best friend, and the ladies of the invisible women's support group, Clover seeks to find a voice for all invisible women while working to strike a balance between her family life and invisibility. VERDICT Audie Award winner Coleen Marlo does a fantastic job of bringing the cast of characters to life. Her portrayal of Clover's "zen" mother-in-law is especially enjoyable. Lighthearted, funny, and relatable, a definite must for women. ["Written by novelist Ann Patchett's mother (Romeo and Julie Get Lucky), this is a perfectly fabulous read that speaks volumes about society's lack of awareness of middle-aged women," read the review of the Crown hc, LJ 5/1/12.-Ed.]-Saori Wendy Yoshioka, M.B. Ketchum Memorial Lib., California Coll. of Optometry, Fullerton (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Fifty-something Clover has long felt invisible to her husband and children, but when she wakes one morning to discover she can't see herself in the mirror, her fears become reality. Initially, she panics and worries that she is going blind, or even worse, insane-her son, Nick, and husband, Arthur, don't seem to notice. Clover soon realizes, however, that she isn't imagining her invisibility and her family had simply stopped seeing her years ago. When browsing the classified section of the newspaper, Clover finds an ad for an upcoming meeting: "Calling Invisible Women." She soon discovers a community of other middle-aged, invisible women, who inform Clover that their condition is caused by a reaction between three drugs made by Dexter-White pharmaceuticals: an antidepressant, a hormone replacement therapy drug, and a calcium supplement. Meeting more afflicted women inspires Clover to embrace her invisibility rather than hide it. She shadows her husband at work, polices the school buses to stop bullies, and even thwarts a bank robbery. With other women in the support group, Clover decides to take action against Dexter-White and demand justice for the drug interaction that caused their condition. While Ray's concept of middle-aged women feeling overlooked by society may not be new, the characters in this fast, fun read are empowered and proactive. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

A former reporter turned full-time doctor's wife and mother of two adult children, Clover Hobart had pretty much made her peace with the fact that her wow factor had been turned down a few notches. Nothing, however, prepared her for the shock of waking up one morning to discover that she was invisible full-blown, H.G. Wells, science-fiction invisible. Trouble is, nobody noticed. Talk about adding insult to injury. Luckily, Clover sees an ad inviting invisible women to meet at the local Sheraton, and suddenly she's thrust into an amorphous support group who determine that their common denominator is a postmenopausal cocktail of hormone replacement, bone loss, and antianxiety medications. Wearing their newfound invisibility like a shield of invincibility, Clover and company tackle the drug company responsible for this travesty and in the process begin repairing relationships that might have helped them disappear in the first place. Women of a certain age will devour Ray's sly satire on the perils of big pharma, middle age, and the unseen consequences of living the quiet life.--Haggas, Carol Copyright 2010 Booklist

In this slim comic treatise on the social status of middle-aged women, Clover Hobart disappears. It had been happening metaphorically for a long time--her job as stealth reporter for the newspaper had slowly morphed into a weekly gardening column, her husband barely notices her and her grown children take her for granted. No one hits on her anymore. And then one morning she wakes up invisible. Her body has mass and weight, but she is shockingly see-through. When her sleepy son Nick doesn't notice, she rushes over to her friend Gilda, who thankfully (Clover's not crazy!) perceives that she's not there. Strangely, or not, no one seems to notice she's invisible--they see her clothes, hear her voice. That her head and hands are missingwell, it only reaffirms what Clover's been feeling for a while: she's simply disappeared. Luckily she comes upon an ad for the next meeting of invisible women at the downtown Sheraton. In the conference room Clover is met with a circle of chairs, disembodied testimonials and a shocking revelation--these women slip out of their clothes to become completely unseen, and do some rather interesting things. She also discovers that they've all been on the same three medications--for menopause, bone density and depression--manufactured by a big pharmaceutical, which tacitly admits something may be going on with this particular combination of drugs. With her support group, Clover begins relishing her invisibility. She's stopped bullies at the local high school, foiled a bank robbery and prevented her son from obtaining an awful tattoo. She just wishes her husband, a good guy in all other ways, would notice. It seems there are a lot of invisible women out there, but they can't get help unless they are heard and seen. Ray's novel could have easily slipped into a series of jokes, but suitably she creates substantial characters for this whimsy. Though the novel has a softer bite than the best satires (Fay Weldon's, for one), it offers a lot of witty charm. ]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.