Looking for books where a woman feels late in life, isolated, invisible, but still dares to hope

I’m currently listening to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and when I heard this quote, I gasped:

“I do exist, don’t I? It often feels as if I’m not here, that I’m a figment of my own imagination. There are days when I feel so lightly connected to the earth that the threads that tether me to the planet are gossamer thin, spun sugar…”

That kind of invisible loneliness, that sensation of being separate from life but still wanting so badly to live, that’s exactly what I’m looking for in a book.

I’m a 40 year old woman who’s spent much of her life isolated due to chronic illness, grief, and trauma. I live mostly from my bed these days. I feel much younger in spirit, soft, dreamy, curious, but older in body: exhausted, aching, and often afraid I’ve missed my moment.

I look younger than I am (people often assume I’m in my twenties-secret: living in a bubble), but inside I feel like time has quietly passed me by.

I want to read about female characters who are emotionally or physically isolated, women who feel cut off from the world, whether by illness, anxiety, grief, or just the strange erosion of time. But I also want there to be hope. Books that understand deep sadness without drowning in it. Stories where transformation happens slowly, or connection finds them unexpectedly. Even if it’s sad, especially if it’s sad, I just want it to be real and end with some sense of meaning, maybe even rebirth.

Bonus: I love when characters become obsessed with something or someone, especially in a way that’s lonely, funny, and a little unhinged (but not, like, murder-unhinged). That deadpan humor masking a howl of pain underneath. Like in Big Swiss by Jen Beagin, which I loved.

Books I’ve heard of but haven’t read yet:
• The Bookish Life of Nina Hill
• Evvie Drake Starts Over
• Maggie Finds Her Muse
• Where’d You Go, Bernadette

Books I’ve read and loved:
• The Midnight Library – gave me hope
• The Great Alone and Where the Crawdads Sing – the resilience floored me
• Big Swiss – that blend of obsession, humor, and ache

Are any of the ones I mentioned worth reading next? And are there others like them that might help me feel a little less alone?

I’m not looking for a perfect happy ending – just a flicker in the dark. A reminder that maybe, somehow, I still have time.

Thank you 💕