I am sitting in the waiting room of a London clinic. In ten minutes I will have an injection that, I am assured, will erase the last twenty years from my face. It's quiet in here, and the light is golden. I'm not sure I believe this is possible . . .

Forty-five-year-old Julia is a freelance journalist mired in the myriad pressures of marriage, motherhood and midlife, until a dream commission promises to transform her flagging career. A pioneering anti-ageing drug is poised to launch in the UK, claiming to turn back the clock. One quick injection at a London clinic, and Julia can throw off the shackles of middle age and secure a prominent byline in the country's most respected newspaper.

But as the fix takes effect, Julia finds herself newly visible, and when her own needs and desires rise to the fore, life spins into chaos. Her husband is blindsided, her daughters appalled, her best friend ecstatic. But is looking young the same as being young? And once you've spent your youth, what is the cost of getting it back?

Provocative, resonant and funny, The Fix is a story of power and patriarchy, family and autonomy, and how we reconcile the person we once were with the person we've become.