How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley

At the age of 70, Daphne decides to re-engage with the world after 15 years of rarely leaving her apartment. She joins a seniors group and her and the other members try to save the community centre which is threatened with closure, with surprising and often hilarious results. But Daphne is hiding a secret and time is running out.

Clare Pooley just gets better and better - I absolutely loved this book, one of my favourites of the year! I laughed, I cried, I nodded vigorously to all the stereotype-busting and loved every minute of it... and you will too! Then I read the acknowledgements and loved the author even more. Very VERY highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Absolutely adored this book. The characters were so fun, especially Daphne, of course. I really enjoyed the multiple characters, strangers mixing with each other and wondered how they'd become a cohesive team. I loved the twists and turns and laughed so much.

I enjoy Clare Pooley books - they are such feel-good, heartwarming stories and this one is no exception.

How to Age Disgracefully is a story about lonely seniors who meet when they sign up for a local senior citizens club. The club meets in a community center that is slated for closure to make way for luxury apartments. The seniors band together to save the building.

The story is told from the point of view of three of these seniors. Each character has their own story and distinct personalities and quirks. They are a joy to read about and to see how they come to become found family and find their happiness again while refusing to age gracefully or as society expects. Throw in a cheating husband, a dynamic, sharp-tongued woman with a past, a young teen father and his eight month baby, and a lovable dog called Maggie Thatcher, and you have a delightful read! I really enjoy novels that focus on older characters.

If you want a fun, quick read that will make you feel good and warm your heart, then make sure to pick up this (and any Clare Pooley) book!

Thanks to @bantambooksuk @randomhouse @transworldbooks for this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Clare Pooley - How to Age Disgracefully.

Lydia’s new job running a social club for the elderly, should, in theory, be a gentle affair of tea and cake, with a few relaxed card games thrown in.
How wrong she was!
Ir would appear that there is a lot of life and mischief left in these senior citizens.
This invisible generation has secrets to share, and they aren’t quite ready to sit quietly and sip tea just yet.

When the community centre where they meet is threatened with closure, the feisty pensioners join forces with an army of little helpers and prepare to fight the battle of their lives by any means necessary

Once again Clare Pooley has pulled together an eclectic bunch of characters, who are all incredibly well thought out and are presented with quirky and unique style.

I’ve enjoyed all her books. Each one has stood out to me for being individual and unlike anything else that I have read.

#HowToSgeDisgracefully is quite simply a delight. From start to finish I was completely invested in the lives and struggles of this glorious bunch of characters.

This story sails through a range of emotions. It’s a powerful and poignant read. It’s funny, sweet and utterly unputdownable.

Clare Pooley goes from strength to strength with every book that she creates.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What a delightful and unique read! I loved How to Age Disgracefully, and its cast of quirky, earnest, snarky and loving characters.

It has a similar feel to Anxious People by Fredrick Backman, which I loved. Art and Daphne’s spiky natures quickly became endearing, and I loved the way the group worked together to help each other find their voice. Except for poor Pauline I guess…

The authors comments around aging, invisibility, mastery and the representation of older people in fiction were so on point. I love the way this book celebrated people of all ages, and played with the idea of that invisibility that comes with age being a strength or secret weapon. The prose was engaging, immersive and laugh out loud funny, and I’d recommend this for anyone looking for a light read with a deceptive amount of heart.

Thank you Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and NetGalley for a copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

This latest book by Clare Pooley was so much fun to read. I loved the gang of unlikely characters that come together to try and save a social club. Combine a 70 year old feisty, opinionated woman (Daphne) with a similar aged man (Art). Then there is Lydia who suspects something is going on with her husband Jeremy. There's a teen dad (Ziggy) who is trying to do the best for his daughter with a mishap or two along the way. Plus a few other sweet characters. It all made for a delightful read.

A warm and hilarious story refuting the expectations that older people just want to sit quietly. No, these members of the older generation are here to challenge your expectations!

Daphne has been alone a long time, and thats the way she likes it. It helps keep her chequered past hidden… When faced with a 70th birthday alone however, she decides to attend a new Senior Citizens Social Club. Horrified by the expectation of sitting quietly doing crafts, she soon rallies her members into trying to save the community centre when under threat of closure. The council have most definitely underestimated this group of pensioners…

This is a fun read, full of vivacious characters full of depth and flaws and everything that makes them jump off the page. Daphne is smart and deliciously blunt, not feeling any need to hedge her comments with politeness or fake concern. She merely gets straight to the point. I love her! The dynamic between her and unknown actor Art is particularly compelling, banter flying between them with ease.

I also enjoyed the character development throughout. Despite not changing her blunt demeanour, Daphne does warm to teenage father Ziggy and his daughter, and takes to them like a grandparent. This shows her what her life has been missing when spending all these years alone.

Timid leader of the group Lydia represents another rarely seen demographic in literature, that of the middle aged woman. Ignored and under appreciated by her husband, children having flown the nest, Lydia takes on a new job at the community centre, but ends up learning more from her attendees instead.

The plot to keep the community centre open is far fetched and yet somehow believable. Hoping that old dog Margaret Thatcher(!) can perform new tricks to win a tv show is just the sort of thing us Brits would adore.

A truly entertaining story bursting with wonderful characters!

How To Age Disgracefully is out today! Thanks to NetGalley and Bantam for the early access.

How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley will not disappoint fans of her previous novels. This is a wonderful intergenerational story with some great characters and a plot to keep you guessing. United in their need to keep the local community centre open, Lydia, Art, Anna, Daphne, Ruby and Ziggy pull together with some unintended consequences. Thoroughly entertaining!
With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

While this one didn’t grab my attention immediately from the very beginning, once I got into it, it was a fun read and I did really enjoy it!

All the characters are so much fun and I love all of the separate story lines that link up together - the whole vibe of this book is very ensemble cast and it makes it a lot more interesting following the different characters and how they all mingle with each other.

The book itself is such an easy read and one you can definitely curl up on the sofa with.

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

Clare Pooley’s books are a joy to read and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one.

It’s lovely to see older characters in the story and reading about their past lives, was beautifully written.

There are different topics covered, as well as different stories. There was also some moments that made you laugh.

I highly recommend this book.

My first Clare Pooley read and it was fabulous!

Lydia had reached a point in her life when she’s no longer needed by her husband and grown up children, so she takes a role at the local community centre running the senior citizens club. What could possibly be difficult about that?

The first week attracts a few sceptical old dears who maybe don’t want to just knit and natter, then the roof falls in, one of the attendees is killed by the debris and the club suddenly gets a whole lot more interesting.

A fabulous read, with wonderful characters, mostly all of whom are flawed, but still good human beings. Great friendships are developed and a wonderful sense of good old fashioned community spirit blossoms as all the groups at the community centre rally together to save the building from closure, sale and redevelopment.

Highly recommended, hilarious and heart warming!

Absolutely loved this book!
A bunch of characters that come together because of using the Mandela Community Centre.
A colourful collection of characters that differ wildly, mainly older in years, but younger people and children thrown into the mix. Not forgetting the dog, Maggie Thatcher. Preferred when Art called her M.
It touches on sensitive issues, but such is life, but I’m not sure I’ve read a funnier book than this. I was laughing out loud, and confess did shed a tear or two at the end. I was sorry to finish this book, could have read on and on.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for an advanced e-book copy. Opinions about the book are entirely my own.

Loving the title and the subject of the book, the senior members of society. Beautifully written and excellent characters although some seem to be eccentric.

I get very excited when I realise that a Clare Pooley novel is next on my list; without looking, I just know I'm in for a good time!

Daphne is approaching her 70th birthday and realises that, basically, she is lonely. Deciding to grasp the nettle, she joins a local Senior Citizens' Social Club, a new venture run by a very well-intentioned but clueless woman who assumes the members will be happy with crafts to keep them busy. The members, however, have other ideas . . .

What a lively bunch the author has created for her latest novel! Fun and laughter all the way, this was another novel I found very hard to put down. The characterisation is spot-on and the stories very entertaining. I just adored Daphne and there was so much going on that made me giggle. Definitely one I'm happy to recommend and easily meriting all five sparkling stars!

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

This was such a lovely book and not the cliché I expected.
I really got to know and liked the characters.
It was really funny, I found myself laughing out loud a few times.
I was sad when I got to the end.
Very well written and great.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My book group discussed Clare’s previous book at my suggestion as most of us are from Wimbledon and had commuted on the line to Waterloo where her last book was set. We loved the characters. I think this book will be even more popular with my group, some of whom are the age of most of the characters but as with the book, my group has younger members too. Clare describes an eclectic group of people who you warm to immediately as they try to save their community centre. Much needed friendships grow. There is warmth and humour. A real feel good book. Thank you Netgalley for an advance copy..

Another brilliant romp from Clare Pooley with a disparate range of characters drawing the readers empathy: Daphne, the seventy year old lady of mystery; Ziggy the teenage single parent; Art the aging actor frustrated at a dying career; William, the grounded friend of Art and ex-journalist; Lydia, the mother struggling to cope with an empty nest and an arrogant, inattentive husband to mention just a few. Then there is the aging, delightful and quirky dog, Maggie Thatcher. There are more characters to win you over in this tale of abandoned hope.

Told from a variety of POV, the reader is introduced to the problems each character faces, as well as coming together to face a common threat, the closure of the community centre.

The adventures along the way are quite delightful and engaging and I found myself racing through this book, which puts a whole new dimension on the invisibility of aging, a very overlooked section of the population!

I totally loved this book and can’t wait to read more from this talented author.

If I had to sum up this book in just a few words it would be delightful chaos.

The opening scene felt like a bad improv class but in the best way, utterly absurd and comical but setting up the book to be a little bonkers. Our leading lady Daphne was beautiful, on the eve of her 70th birthday but still feeling youth and excitement deep in her heart, starting a plan to find some new friends not knowing it would be much more of an adventure than she’d expected. She’s full of secrets that eventually seep through and explode to the surface in a series of slow-burning, intense reveals that balance out the wholesome warmhearted moments with drama and intrigue.

We jump between Daphne and her unlikely group of misfits, including a shoplifting 75 year old actor, a retired paparazzo, a teen dad who owes money to a gang, a social club organiser whose first meeting resulted in a fatality, a young foster child with mutism, a widow who definitely didn’t kill any of her five husband, and a rather fabulous dog named after a former prime minister - slowly learning about their lives and watching as they all find their way together at the local community centre and beyond.

Every single person opened up on the page and showed us the loneliness we can find even surrounded by people, the need we have for real human connections and the transformative power of friendship. On the surface this may look like another story about a ragtag group working to save their community centre and actually saving themselves, which it is in a way, this story had so much personality, heart and sparkle that it definitely stood out on the shelf.

A devilishly cheeky, fun story of friendship and hope showing that all adults are just big kids with bills that left me smiling all the way through.

I loved Clare Pooley’s previous novel, so I was thrilled to be approved for her latest book.

The story was told from the point of view of a few different characters, starting off with Daphne who’s mentioned in the above synopsis.

Daphne was a brilliant character. A strong older woman, with a very spiky character, so not always particularly likeable. However, she was great at sorting everyone’s problems out, as well as helping to save the social club.

I enjoyed meeting all the different characters and following them on their mission to save the club. I particularly liked Ziggy a teenage single Dad, Lydia who runs the Social Club and Maggie Thatcher who isn’t at all who you think she is!

Recommended if you enjoy contemporary fiction or you’re in need of a feel good read!

Daphne knows that age is just a number and she also knows that society no longer pays her any attention – something she’s more than happy to exploit to help her hide a somewhat chequered past. 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. On 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 drastically underestimate the wrong group of pensioners, along with the help of a teenage dad and a geriatric, orphaned dog. As long as their pasts don't catch up with them first…

‘The Authenticity Project’ is one of my favourite ever books, and after also loving ‘The People on Platform 5’ I couldn’t wait to read this latest title from Clare, and I wasn’t disappointed. Daphne is a strong willed character, speaking her mind from the offset and is someone you definitely wouldn’t mess with, someone you’d want on your side. I instantly fell in love with all the characters, as always in Clare’s books, and I hope I can be as cool as Daphne at that age!

It is a feel good read that will make you laugh out loud, fall in love with every single character, and root for them all to have the outcome they deserve. The alternating POV’s from the four main characters executes the story perfectly, giving an insight from differing age groups all working together. You can’t help but read this with a smile on your face and is a book that you will want to read again and again. Can’t wait for the next adventure from Clare!