A great read. A woman turning her life on it’s head and starting anew. Some fairly scary moments as she acclimatises to her new job especially.

An enthralling and interesting read.

What happens when you reach 57 and blow up your whole life. A house, a marriage and a successful career as a FT journalist - boom. All gone.

What happens is, you scare yourself silly, and feel fully alive again.

Not only did Lucy Kellaway re-train to become a secondary school teacher, she also inspired and supported others to give up their careers to join Now Teach. Not all would make it. Not all would like it. Many would quit. But more would come to relish the challenge, and the sense of giving back.

An extremely candid glimpse into one woman's journey into education, or rather re-education. Self-deprecating, wise, warm and inspiring, a thoroughly enjoyable read.

My thanks to #Netgally and #Ebury publishers for the opportunity to read this book.

A well written memoir about something that the majority of us have thought about but haven’t the courage or the financial security to attempt. To change the direction that your life is heading especially when you have reached corporate Navana with its perks is both mad and foolhardy and yet Lucy Kellaway does it and puts her journey down on paper.
It was a interesting read with humour and observations on society in general. I’d definitely recommend this book if you’re even considering teaching for its honest insight.

I hadn't come across Lucy Kellaway before - perhaps because I don't read the FT - but I love a good reinvention story. At the age of fifty-something, Lucy ditches her husband and her job, She retrains as a teacher - and at the same time starts an organisation which helps others in their laters careers retrain for teaching too.
Would you become a teacher? I'm only a little younger than Lucy and it has never featured on my list of possible careers. I'm too old, tired and jaded to wrestle with young minds who may or may not want to learn. But Lucy loves her new career, even through the challenges, and it's great to read how she and her peer group of old/new teachers get on.
Well worth a read whether you want to teach or not, this is a great story of a new life when others the same age are thinking about settling down, and for that it's a must-read.

This non-fiction read is both interesting and empowering. This is based on exactly what it says on the cover, it gives an account of the time in Lucy's life where she decided to give her existence a complete overhaul, including a very big career change. I found this part of the read incredibly relatable as I am on my own personal career pathway.

This is the perfect read for any non-fiction fan who enjoys well-written memoirs, with everything you'd expect when reading about someone's life choices. There are ups and downs throughout, but the author's determination to overcome what is needed is motivating and impressive.

I wasn't aware of Lucy Kellaway before picking up this book. The title intrigued me as I have recently undergone big changes myself in terms of relationship, home and career (hair not so much). Although I'm a younger generation than Lucy, and from a (seemingly) less privileged background, her story really resonated with me.

As a former Financial Terms columnist, Kellaway is an excellent writer and each chapter has a clear purpose and topic. Her approach to life is inspirational and shows even as you reach your late 50s/60s, it's not too early to start again and change your life path. Aside from her life just being extremely interesting, Kellaway retrains as a teacher - taking a huge pay cut in the process - and starts up the organisation Teach Now. As a sibling to Teach First, Teach Now encourages experienced workers to change careers later in life to become teachers and share their skills and experience with students.

Overall this was a truly lovely, inspiring and interesting book. It's quite a quick read but I feel like that's perhaps indicative of Kellaways no-nonsense style and I liked it.

I found this to be an uplifting read and something everyone should read. It just shows that anything in life is possible and it’s never to late to change careers or paths

A thoroughly enjoyable read about making major changes to your life in your 50s and 60s - a time where many people might be hesitant to change their career, living situation or even their hair, such are the grooves they have settled into. At age 57, Lucy Kellaway changes everything about her life - she ends her marriage, stops dyeing her hair, moves to a new home that's the complete opposite of what she's lived in her whole life and, the biggest change of all, leaves her stable, financially-rewarding job as columnist at the Financial Times to retrain as a secondary school teacher.

I went through a similar experience in my 20s and now I'm 40, I've often thought that such a dramatic reinvention would not be something I could pull off now, or in the future. Reading this book has reminded me of the fact that we can always change our lives if we have the will and the courage to do so. Age is not just a number, it is simply the amount of time you've been alive for - and you'd do better, Kellaway argues, to focus on the life you have ahead of you.

Lucy Kellaway doesn't shy away from the big questions - she discusses privilege, which she admits she has in abundance and that has certainly helped her to make the choices she did, as well as the racism faced by her students in the education system. In sharing her experiences, she presents a measured and thoughtful meditation on what makes a good teacher, and it isn't necessarily what she thought, going in.

This is a great read for anyone who is thinking of taking a leap of faith - whatever age you are - as it's a bolstering and uplifting reminder that life is full of possibilities and change really is possible, with hard work, self belief and a bit of luck. But ultimately - and I think I liked this message most of all - our characters very rarely change, it is our experiences that educate and re-educate us.

Highly recommended!

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Re-educated; How I changed my job, my home, my husband and my hair by Lucy Kellaway is the true story of how Lucy Kellaway changed so much of her life, and became happier than ever.

I very much enjoyed reading about the author's journey, and of googling the house that caused so much of the change!  This is a positive story, and one that is well written, unflinching in the places of pain and suffering, but overall, a joyous read!

 Re-educated  was published on 1st July 2021 and is available from  Amazon ,  Waterstones  and  Bookshop.org .

You can follow Lucy Kellaway on  Twitter .

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to  Ebury Publishing .

Really enjoyed this book and the way it was written. I have a few friends who have had similar epiphanies during later life but it was good to see the reason why someone has made the decisions they did and what the initial decision of wanting a house then caused other changes a long the way. A very inspiring tale of passion to give back and make a difference. hats off to Lucy.

I genuinely enjoyed Re-educated by Lucy Kellaway. It's an eye-opening story that shows how we can change our lives even though we think it might be too late. It's never too late, really!

I really loved this book. I thought the author was incredibly humble, honest and brave to make such huge changes in life and Lucy's story is relayed in such a poignant and heartfelt way. I read this and came away feeling completely inspired.

Thank you to NetGalley and EBury Publishing/Penguin for the eArc.

An interesting narrative on the author's experience re-evaluating her life as she reaches middle age and aims to re-train and launch a new career and a new life in the process. The writing is compelling, but the book will probably resonate more with older readers.

Re-educated by Lucy Kellaway

Lucy Kellaway, a columnist at the Financial Times, changes just about every aspect of her life in her 50s - everything from her hairstyle to a new career as a teacher. We follow the ups and downs of her experiences along the way.

Wow, I'd never heard of Lucy Kellaway before but what a brave and inspirational woman she is! This book is such a fantastic read and I cheered her on through every chapter. Lovely style of writing, humorous and poignant, and some very important points made along the way on life, age, education - very highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

An interesting read, although to be frank this read more as a chance to follow a career change as a consequence of being in a positive financial position to do so . Many teachers would perhaps be infuriated at the lack of coverage of exhaustion, low salary and inability to find affordable housing ..

If someone, who is approaching retirement, gives up a well paid and slightly glam job to become a low paid teacher in a local school, in order to 'give' something back to society as well as for their own personal satisfaction, that's to be applauded. It's a brave and worthy thing. To only work part time, so you can still dip your toes in your previous job (and also because you already own your own home and therefore don't need to work unlike your poorer, younger colleagues) and to decide to start up a charitable business on the back of it and plug it by writing a book all about it, does rather strike me as vulgar somehow. I found it all rather arrogant and quite off putting.

As you would expect from former FT journalist Lucy Kellaway, this was a well-written and enjoyable read. The book was about her decision in her late-50s to quit her job as a journalist, end her marriage, move house and become a teacher - plus setting up an organisation to encourage others towards the latter end of their career to become teachers as well. Even one of those things could be exhausting in itself, so to do all of them in a very short space of time (and survive) is more than impressive!

A lot of the focus of the book was about Lucy's decision to retrain as a teacher and how that then played out. Possibly part of the purpose of the book was to encourage others to consider becoming teachers as well. Had I ever considered such a possibility previously, having read this book, I would never consider it again. The dedication and seeming all life-consuming nature of being a teacher is more than I'm ever likely to want to give to a job (sorry Lucy...). But I think it will leave you a little bit in awe of what teachers do, if you didn't feel like that already.

I think the book could be accused of showing the choices that are open to someone when they are middle-class and privileged. Can most of us really afford to make some of these choices, however well meaning we might be? But I think Lucy Kellaway would acknowledge that herself and also recognised the very different life-chances and opportunities that many of her pupils have.

I thought this was a fascinating read that might encourage us to think about whether some part of our life would benefit, even in a small way, from change and to be bold and take a chance.

I wanted to read this book on the basis of the words on the front on the book. Changing your job, home, husband and hair sounded like lots of change. The book proves that it is. But at the heart of the book is the fact that Kellaway left a secure job at the Financial Times to retrain as a teacher. She had an initial idea to be a maths teacher but this is fairly short lived and it makes sense that she then decides that she is perhaps more suited to being an economics teacher. I read with interest all her tales of being a new teacher. I became fond of the way she described her life including her 4 children and her ex husband. The title of the book is apt - Re-educated. Definitely possible for anyone. She kicked off the process in her late 50s.

This is an interesting and enlightening book that has given me renewed respect for teachers. Conversely, in her descriptions of being a slacker columnist, it confirmed for me what I sense in many a newspaper or magazine column: boring rehashes of the same old scenarios and the columnist gets away with it because they are a "name". I did not ever read her columns in the FT so perhaps not all reflected the jaded boredom that is expressed in the book.

The author's writing style is engaging - unsurprising given that she has many years' experience as a columnist - so there is an easy reading lightness to the book even when writing about sensitive subjects such as why certain student groups (races) have a greater hunger for learning than others, as is revealed by their results..

Actually the chapters in the book where she describes her experiences as a teacher were the most interesting to me. I couldn't care less about someone who decides to stop dyeing their hair and "go gray" - it is really not a big deal and if anything, is more suited to being the topic of a column in a magazine.

The author makes interesting points about privilege and opportunities, and how this was relevant in the choices she made and what was available to her.

Overall an interesting, readable book with some chapters that I skimmed through.

I used to read Lucy Kellaway's column on FT and listen to her podcast. She made me laugh, think and reflect on business jargon and how absurd it can be.
I love her style of writing, her sharp mind and the humor. It was a sort of role model in approaching the language of the enterprise world and consultancy.
I was happy to read this ARC as I found all the characteristics I loved: humor, a sharp mind and a great dose of realism.
As I'm not so younger than the author I can say that what she wrote reflected some of my feelings and experience.
I decided to start a L&D certification two years ago (was the younger in my class) and I think I totally agree when she writes that you are not obsessed by career when you start something new later in your life.
I loved how she talks about getting old and accepting the changes of your body.
Her teaching experiences are really interesting and sometimes I thought i would have liked a teacher like her.
I read this book in two days and was totally involved in what I was reading.
It's heartfelt, gripping and thought provoking. It should be read by anyone who's over 50 and would like to change his/her life.
I strongly recommend it.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine