How to Age Disgracefully

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Brought to you by Penguin.

When age makes you invisible, secrets are easier to hide

Lydia imagines her new job running a Senior Citizen's Social Club three afternoons a week will involve drinking tea while playing gentle games of cards, listening to The Beatles and reminiscing about food rationing and The Blitz.

She does not expect to find a failed actor addicted to shoplifting, a woman who's been hiding from a mysterious and very chequered past, and a prolific yarn-bomber. It turns out that their ideas about how to spend their afternoons are very different.

After a tragic accident means the council threatens to sell the community centre, the Social Club, aided by their friends in the nursery next door and a geriatric orphaned dog, set out to save it.

They might not be able to save the hall, but they might just save each other - if their pasts don't catch up with them first...

©2024 Clare Pooley (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

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
A feelgood comedy about the perils of underestimating OAPs. Clare Pooley's third novel is an affectionate swipe at ageism - her witty turn of phrase and gloriously British sense of humour makes this a breezily entertaining read, and Daphne is a scurrilous delight
The Times
How to Age Disgracefully is a celebration of life at every age and stage. I laughed, cried and cheered at this wonderful novel
Jennie Godfrey, Sunday Times bestselling author of The List of Suspicious Things
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
Warm, witty perfection
Good Housekeeping
Clare Pooley writes the kind of characters that I want to be when I grow up! I laughed such a lot reading this book, even as my heart was breaking. It is another triumph; truthful, insightful and full of joy. I am in love with this book
Jenny Bayliss
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
A roof-raising triumph! Bursting with heart . . . this is peak Pooley and I loved, loved, LOVED it!
Matt Cain
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

User Reviews

Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
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5.0
Polaris 03/07/2025

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