A Shed of One's Own

Book excerpt: For many men, middle age arrives too fast and without due warning. One day you are young, free and single; the next you are all washed up, and have weird tendrils of hair growing out of your ears. Marcus Berkmann isn't having it. Having marked a Significant Birthday by hiding under a duvet for six weeks, the author of the classic Rain Men finds some light in the all-consuming darkness. 'We may have lost our hair, our waistline or our way completely. But we have also gained a certain amount of guile and what some might call "gravitas" (and others world call "weight").'