The brand new feel-good novel from the bestselling author of The Authenticity Project and The People on Platform 5
'Uplifting, heartwarming and joyful. Restored my faith in humankind' - Ruth Jones
When age makes you invisible, secrets are easier to hide
Daphne knows that age is just a number. She also knows that society no longer pays her any attention - something she's happy to exploit to help her hide a somewhat chequered past.
But finding herself alone on her 70th birthday, with only her plants to talk to and neighbours to stalk online, she decides she needs some friends. Joining a Senior Citizen's Social Club she's horrified at the expectation she'll spend her time enduring gentle crafting activities. Thankfully, the other members - including a failed actor addicted to shoplifting and a prolific yarn-bomber - agree.
After a tragic accident, the local council threaten to close the club - but they have underestimated the wrong group of pensioners...and with the help of a teenage dad and a geriatric, orphaned dog, the incongruous gang set out to prove it.
As long as their pasts don't catch up with them first...
About the Author
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.
Industry Reviews
Uplifting, heartwarming and joyful. Restored my faith in humankind, it's the perfect book to escape to in these troubled times. So funny, so moving, and so glad I read it. * Ruth Jones *
Utterly hysterical and full of heart, with hugely loveable characters, a dialogue that had me in stitches and many profound moments. A totally wonderful, spirit-lifting read! * Helly Acton *
A warm and uplifting story about making friends, smashing stereotypes and the importance of community - I loved it * Sarah Turner *
Clare Pooley weaves together the most cleverly flawed and lovable characters and then sets them free to prove that we are limitless at any age. How to Age Disgracefully is a love letter to the human spirit * Annabel Monaghan, author of Nora Goes Off Script *
Joyful, life-affirming and full of heart, How to Age Disgracefully is an absolute riot of a read, full of perfectly flawed characters who made me laugh, cry and cheer. . .you'll never look at a septuagenarian the same way again! * Freya Sampson *
