"It's the fourth decade,
He recites to you the truth, my lady, as it is revealed by customs and concepts.
A necklace that makes you a woman with the sadness of autumn, a woman who lives with disappointment, the hosting of illusions, the pain of abandonment, the death of interest, the foolishness of stubbornness, the shame of escape, the fading of beauty, the loss of hope, and even the mourning of the dream of another spring season!
Because the cycle of seasons has never stopped and will never stop... you are all the seasons and you are the fire of life... you are the earth and the sun... and you are the moon...!!
This is what novelist Inaam Diop says in a novel whose title, from the outset, refers to the late age of marriage for single women in a patriarchal society. While opening the reading horizon to more than one interpretation or possibility, the title "On the Banks of Forty: And Forty Has Another Chapter" constitutes a microcosm of the text's central theme, in addition to other themes, including freedom, will, and individual independence.
It is the story of "Nora", the educated, feminine, ambitious and confident girl, one of many girls who passed the age of marriage through no fault of their own, except their desire to develop themselves and break out of the shell imposed on them by society, family and religion, so they were late to catch the train of customs and traditions, and thus they received a free title that made them search for the details of a dangerous concept called spinsterhood!!
In this work, novelist Inaam Diop poses several questions that characterize the relationship between masculinity and femininity, such as: Is a woman's value and status determined by her age? Does spinsterhood mean that a girl has passed the age of marriage imposed by people and society? Is it a concept and a matter that pertains only to women, from which men are absolved? Does spinsterhood mean that a woman is merely a pleasure for men and a means of reproduction with an expiration date, which they have replaced with the word "spinster"?