Chocolate and books: what good things are made of

The Wobbly Middle is a podcast for women rethinking their careers. Listen to our conversations with women who have forged bold new paths in their 40s and beyond, who have stood at career crossroads, returned after careers breaks, built businesses, and finally taken their long-neglected dreams seriously.

Growing up in her family chocolate business with a lifelong love of reading, Georgina Atwell is a values-led and commercially minded entrepreneur from wrapper to spine. In this episode, she shares her solution to the missing cash in the publishing industry, starting from scratch with a small budget, how to build lean and of course, her 2026 summer reads.

Georgina worked in publishing for a decade or so at Penguin and Apple (during the nascent years of e-books) learning all sides of the book business. Then the well-known-to-women flaws in the workplace (redundancy while on maternity leave and later inflexible working practices) led to a spell at home with the kids.

During this time, Georgina took everything she knew about the publishing industry and turned it around, looking at it from all angles for solutions to the problems behind the problems, starting with what children actually wanted to read.

“I wanted to lean into that idea of children recommending books to each other and listening to those children, which I think is surprisingly rare.”

She also has a talent for building businesses on a shoestring. Starting with just a Facebook page, Georgina captured the attention of the mums in the playground pushing a child on a swing who were checking their phones and made book recommendations to them. And it grew from there.

Today Toppsta is the UK’s largest children’s book review platform with over 160,000 reviews, mostly by children for children.

Now she’s launched Readerama, a secondhand books marketplace, designed by readers, for readers and which also gives back to the industry with books to schools, and funding for prizes and festivals.

Georgina’s reading recommendations are always gems. She leant me this for my week in Spain and I devoured it. Written in 1952, but only translated in English for the first time in 2023, I feel cheated that this Forbidden Notebook and its author, Alba de Céspedes have been hidden from me all those years. For aspiring writers and bibliophiles, I don’t think you need a précis. Presumably the title is enough.

Subscribe and share so you don’t miss our episode with Wendy Welpton who tells us how she used social media to build her Reclaim Movement Programme.

You might also love The Accidental Influencer: Hut-to-Hut Hikes, Night Trains and Going Viral with Bea Searle . Like Georgina, travel blogger Bea built an online business from scratch around something she genuinely loved.

ABOUT THE PODCAST: Join recovering lawyer Patsy Day as she navigates her own midlife career crossroads in real time. The Wobbly Middle explores that moment when we recognise the restless feeling for what is - returning ambition - and begin actively questioning our direction. It’s that in-between space where we know we want change but don’t know how to move forward.

Each season, Patsy sits down with women who share their career pivot stories about leaving corporate life and building businesses, breaking back in after career breaks, going back to study and taking their long-neglected dreams seriously

In Season 4, she’s speaking to the women who changed direction in midlife to build the things that make our summers: the holidays we book, the books we read, the swimwear we brave, and the financial confidence to enjoy it.

These wise women tell us that clarity comes from doing and that readiness grows as you go. The message is don’t wait to feel ready to begin. Dip in a toe and see where it leads.

SHARE YOUR STORY: Made a left turn in your career? We’d love to hear about it - your story might just be the nudge someone else needs.

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