This was such a riot! It's actually really funny and the humour shines through.
The author writes about old people like they're actual people with their own stories, lives, wants and desire which is quite refreshing.

As Daphne (the main character) approaches 70 she decides that she needs to change her life. She joins the Senior citizens social club and ends up making some friends.
When the city council tries to demolish the building that houses their club, they have to save it, by raising the funds funds. As they navigate this, the author takes us through the details of their individual lives and actually intertwines their stories quite well!

This was a fun read. Dealt with heavy themes in a really great way. This is a good one to get you out of a reading slump?

Laugh out loud funny, a book I couldn’t put down. Clare Pooley is an excellent author. Bravo. Perfect for fans of the Thursday Murder Club series.

How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley is oh so relatable and so much fun! There IS life after fifty and you don't just turn into a dusty old biddy in pearls and cardigans!

I absolutely adore the interaction between generations and the reality of getting older with a whole lot of humour and just a smidgy smidge of the spicy! Loved it

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers | Bantam and the author Clare Pooley for this fantastic ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

This was such a fun read as there were so many elements to other books, such as Thursday Murder Club, and the characters were so loveable. It had some really amusing moments and just came together to make a really light-hearted read.

The People on Platform 5 is one of my favourite books and Clare Pooley has done it again with How to Age Disgracefully. How to Age Disgracefully is a delightful, hilarious, and heartwarming read. I could not put the book down and read it in one day! I cannot say how absolutely brilliant this book is and I would read it every day if I could!

The story takes us on a journey with such fabulous characters - because of how incredibly the book is written, I felt deeply connected to the characters .. and I loved Maggie Thatcher the dog!

The main star character is Daphne who, at nearly 70 years old, is feeling rather lonely so she decides to join a local Senior Citizens Club where she hopes she can chat with like-minded people, have a cup of tea and a natter! But the other members of the Senior Citizens Club have completely different ideas and oh what fun they have! I found myself laughing out loud at the fabulous antics they all got up to! Totally superb!

Each of the characters were spectacular in their own way. They each brought something different to the Senior Citizens Club but they all had one aim and that was to stop the local council from closing their community centre where they all met. Nothing was going to stop them! A very determined and incredible group who had great fun along the way and they all made many wonderful friends.

A must-read! How to Age Disgracefully is a celebration of life, love, and the joy of living each day to the fullest. Age is just a number – you have to make the most out of life, doing what you can, when you can. It is also about taking that first step, which is often difficult at first, but as Daphne experienced can open so many new friendships and wonderful moments, even though there are challenges to. It is very nervous going into places on your own for the first time, but with courage and determination, you can do it, just like Daphne did.

It’s a book that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page. I would love a follow up to find out what they are all up to now! Five stars!

Thank you very much for my advanced copy. This review is based on a NetGalley ARC provided in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.

A friendship group for senior citizens In the local community centre, ends up with a Mötley Crew of mixed personalities Who all bring an interesting and new perspective to life in ’ Old age’

When they start teaming up with the other community groups in the local area, specifically the crèche, after the Centre is put on threat of closure As it is considered unsafe, everyone rallies around to try and save it.


The fantastic mix of personalities, their experiences and backgrounds makes for fantastic story. Excellent Read, highly recommended and marvellously entertaining.

Thanks to #NetGalley For the opportunity to have read this ahead of publication and exchange for an honest review.

Well I just loved this. So darn wholesome but still with a touch of naughty OAPs 😂 I love Clare Pooley - community is at the heart of her books and this one is no exception. It's an important reminder and hits home on a personal level at the moment. I love the unlikely friendships that she's so fond of writing about, and I couldn't possibly pick a favourite character - both young and old are excellent.

Side note - I ended up audio'ing this and the narrator was fabulous!

I have loved Clare Pooley’s previous books because underpinning each of her wryly-observed storylines is a deep-set love of humanity. This book is no different, although the cast that Pooley assembles here is a little older: a group of senior citizens who club together to save their beloved community centre from closure. There are aspects that compare to Libby Page’s ‘The Lido’ and Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club shenanigans, but in the end, Pooley’s characters are totally unique: Lydia who has to debate whether to make old secrets public or not, Art with a tendency for kleptomania, guerrilla knitter Daphne …. and the multigenerational fellow citizens who dare to cross their paths! An engaging, light-but-thought-provoking read that I can recommend. Thank you to NetGalley and to the publishers for the ARC generously gifted to me in exchange for this book review.

What a fabulous book, very unexpected and quite different from the norm. Wonderful original characters all put together in an amusing and well put together plot. Daphne was a very unexpected heroine who was full of surprises. A different and enjoyable read.

Thank you Random House and Netgalley
From the first page to the end this was such a fun read.
Can we have more Daphne please?

If you are looking for a book similar to The Thursday Murder Club, this one is for you. Full of humour, vibes and deceit, this book has it all. It was lovely to get to know all the characters, particularly Daphne and her very bizarre ways.

I like the way in which we were introduced to the characters separately, so we could build our own opinions of them. This is an extremely character driven book, similar to her others, so do bare this in mind when delving in. I like how the book explored day to day topics and relatable situations,

I enjoyed this read, but it didn't really resonate with me in the way I wanted it to, hence the 3 star review.

There are not enough stars to give this book. Having read Clare Pooley's previous novels I knew I was in for a treat but didn't believe she could top the other stories: I was wrong. This book was so funny throughout it's entirety. Yet it dealt with issues such as how to break the poverty cycle as a teen parent, how to face up to a far from ideal relationship once your children have flown the nest, as well as how to fight against being stereotyped as an older person.

I read the book with Netgalley and also in the company of fellow readers on Pigeonhole. It was an utter delight.

📖 Book Review

How To Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley
Bantam, 20th June 2024

When a group of strangers join a social club for senior citizens to meet people and make friends, they expect bingo and cups of tea. So, when they begin to interact and get to know each other, imagine their surprise when they find themselves in downright hilarious situations!

This book is a lightheaded, riotous frolic that often made me laugh out loud at the characters' antics. The characterisations are wonderful, with the various people becoming very real for me. Such an enjoyable read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Bantam and Clare Pooley for the ARC provided via NetGalley; this is my unbiased review.

#HowToAgeDisgracefully #ClarePooley #Bantam #BantamBooks #NetGalley #ARCReview #Bookstagram #HumorousRead #FabFiction

Oh, what a fabulous book this one was. After a few weeks of reading mainly crime novels, I decided to pick this one up. While it is not a crime, it does have crime within!

This book starts with a minibus of elderly citizens, a baby, a teenager, a dog and young children being pulled over on the motorway by the police. They are looking to arrest someone. The problem is... well some on the bus are all too ready to confess to their misdemeanours!

Lydia is a married woman, in her 50s and feeling sad about her life, she is struggling with menopause, her children are growing up and her husband doesn't see her anymore. Her companions are those at the local community centre who are senior citizens, not exactly the life and soul of the party. But, she soon discovers there is more to them than meets the eye, especially when they get the bit between their dentures over an announcement that they might be losing the centre.

If there was ever a book about growing old disgracefully, this one must be on your list. It is a fun story that takes on the most interesting and unexpected turns. From a ceiling collapsing, to yarn-bombing, covert investigations, dodgy dealings and some very fun events, mishaps and shenanigans. This book seems to have a huge amount covered.

While this is a fun story, there are also some serious aspects to it. You don't get through life being squeaky clean and there are going to be some things that you have done that may not be exactly proper. Luckily for us, the reader has decided that her characters have had some interesting lives, there are years of experience, wisdom and dodgy advice to be had.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a mix of contemporary fiction, with a mystery threaded lightly through, some very good humour and laughs and an adventurous group who appear to be more than willing to be led astray.

If you are looking for a fun read then have a look at this one. I enjoyed it and hope you do too. I would happily recommend it for a lighthearted read.

Absolutely fabulous. Highly funny and very relatable which just makes it funnier. I could see myself in these situations and laughed out loud so many times.

Similarily to The People on Platform 5, this book is a lovely, witty, found-family comedy (picture The Thursday Murder Club but without the murder!).

The story follows a few different characters as they navigate the perils of aging and relationships, but the standout for me was Daphne. Clever, resourceful Daphne sets out from the start of the story to make herself some friends and end her self-enforced years-long isolation (with the help of a whiteboard plan, which I found very relatable!) and somehow ends up very competently solving everyone’s problems with straying husbands, gang peer pressure, estranged family, kleptomania and elective mutism (to name just a few).

Oh, and they also have to save the local community centre, of course!

Daphne’s abrasive approach to human contact is both funny and sad, but it is when all of the characters come together as a group that the story achieves chaotic, comedic perfection.

I loved reading every minute of this and found myself wanting to be back in the story after I had finished it. And, as I loved The People on Platform 5 so much as well, I will clearly need to add Clare Pooley to my must-read author list for the future.

This book was hilarious. This is exactly what I want to do, age disgracefully. Life is too short for what ifs.

I absolutely lovely Daphne she is fabulous and funny and a bit of a devil. What a brilliant book.

I also really loved Ziggy's character, life has thrown him a bad hand and he's just trying to make a good life for his little girl. The friendship that builds with him and Daphne is so heartwarming.

I love that the dog they inherit is called Maggie Thatcher, absolutely brilliant name for a dog.

I was laughing my head off throughout this book and devoured it.

I loved The People on Platform 5 so I was hopeful that this book would be as brilliant, and I was not disappointed

This is the 3rd book I’ve read by Clare Pooley and the 3rd I’ve loved! There’s nothing Clare could write that I wouldn’t read!

Absolutely adored this book and can’t wait for more.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Yet another glorious and hilarious read by the wonderful Clare Pooley; I loved both her previous books and didn't think The People on Platform 5 could be bettered, but I really think this one was her best yet. The most fabulous characters - I adored them all - especially Daphne of course but also Art, William, Lydia and Ziggy. I love the way she writes and brings all the generations together so beautifully. Utterly brilliant.

I absolutely loved this book. It made me laugh and smile a lot.
I enjoyed all the different characters, which were very believable. I hope that when I get to that age I have as much gumph in me.
Definitely well worth a read.