How To Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley

 

The members of the recently formed senior citizens club at Mandel Community Centre spring into action when they learn the council is going to demolish the building and redevelop the site. Little does the council realise who they are dealing with.

Clare Pooley has two previous novels, The Authenticity Project and The People On Platform Five, so fans will have an idea of what to expect from How To Age Disgracefully. I'm happy to report that the author has worked her magic again, showing that age is just a state of mind and woe-betide anyone who overlooks someone simply because they look old.

The hilarious opening pages give us a glimpse of what to expect. A minibus carrying a mixture of pensioners and young children is stopped by the police. To much amazement various passengers begin admitting crimes and insist that they are the person that needs to be arrested. The story then jumps back a few months and introduces us to some of those passengers as they join the newly formed social club at the community centre.

Daphne is the main character. Seventy years old and feeling lonely, Daphne talks to her dead husband, the house plants and even the TV, but she doesn't talk to her neighbours. Daphne has barely left her flat in fifteen years but decides now is the time to try and make some friends. It is very easy for the reader to immediately make assumptions about Daphne, however, despite being seventy she's not a pushover. Daphne is feisty, quick-witted, speaks her mind and has some amazing hidden skills. I was convinced throughout that she was a retired spy hiding from an unknown enemy.

Art is very different. He's a little bit older than Daphne and is struggling to accept that his career as an actor is over, a career that never really took off. The main reason for Art's refusal to accept enforced retirement is that he needs the money.

When Daphne and Art stumble across the newly formed social club they meet a strange collection of people. Lydia is nominally in charge, returning to employment now her children have left home. Anna used to be a long-distance lorry driver and terrorises everyone with her mobility scooter. Ruby seems to do nothing but knit strange creations and Penelope is a forthright retired headteacher. We also meet a few others who use the community centre such as Ziggy. Ziggy is still at Sixth Form and has dreams of going to university. Unfortunately, those dreams were dashed when he became a single father. His only hope of finishing Sixth Form is the nursery at the community centre.

You cannot help but like the cast of eccentric characters, particularly when you learn more about their backgrounds. We learn not to jump to conclusions based on age, looks or where someone lives. Through a variety of situations, you are cheering each and every one of the group on. It is impossible to even consider any of them failing, mainly because Daphne is such a formidable leader, able to talk her way out of any situation. While Daphne is able to solve everyone else's problems, it looks like time has run out for her and the secret she has been living with for a long time.

How To Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley will be published on 20th June 2024 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Transworld Books for a review copy.

Author Details

Clare Pooley graduated from Newnham College, Cambridge and spent twenty years in the heady world of advertising, before becoming a full-time writer. Clare's dark but hilarious memoir, The Sober Diaries, has helped thousands of people around the world to quit drinking. The Authenticity Project, Clare's debut novel, was a BBC Radio 2 bookclub pick, a New York Times bestseller, the winner of the RNA debut novel award and a Babelio award. It's been translated into 29 languages. The People on Platform 5 is Clare's second novel, inspired by her fascination with inventing stories about her fellow passengers on her commute to work. Clare lives in Fulham, London with her husband, three children and two border terriers.