A fabulous caper of some septuagenarians in Hammersmith, West London. Great characters, surprising, inspiring and hilarious!!
Daphne has been grieving and hiding away in her flat for too long when she decides to get back into the world and make some new friends starting with an over 70’s group in the local community centre. Lydia is suffering from empty nest syndrome when her two daughters leave for University and gets a job running a local group. The surprising turn of events and different walks of life we meet are just brilliant. A multi generational tale, this one feels good and with some impressive modern twists and touches.,
The older generations are definitely not ageing gracefully!!
Will be watching for the next Clare Pooley book!
Thank you to NetGalley and Bantam for the early read, much appreciated this one is a winner!!

I really enjoyed this story of a group of oldies who start at a new oap club. It started a bit slow but as the characters emerged, I grew to like them and the story was well put together. I thoroughly recommend this story and am now going to check out other titles by Clare Pooley.

What a great book! This is the first book I have read by Pooley and will certainly look out for more of her books. This is ideal for the young at heart and those too old to worry about what others think of them like myself. The characters are well drawn with depth. The book is funny, sometimes sad but hopeful. I liked the inclusion of Ziggy, a teenager and his young daughter. Often a child can relate to grandparents better than to their own parents. It was a joy to read from beginning to end.

A very enjoyable story about a group of people and children who come together to save their community hall from Hammersmith Council who are more concerned with selling it off to developers. The story involves a group of dysfunctional septuagenarians, Lydia the organiser, a dog called Margaret Thatcher and Ziggy the father of baby Kylie and school boy studying for his A levels. Delightfully written and very humorous I enjoyed every page of this book. Recommended.

This is not the genre I usually read, but it was a breath of fresh air. It was funny and entertaining, I could see it becoming a tv series at some point.

I read through quite quickly because it was easy to read and kept interesting by everyone's individual stories.

A really enjoyable story with lots of ups and downs throughout. Following the stories of a couple of key characters this book is really well written.

Another fun read by this author, packed full with strong characters with interesting backstories. Full of heart and wit you can't help but enjoy it as the stories intertwine pulling you to the fabulous ending.

This is such a fun book and a great advocate for allowing your personality to shine whatever your age.

Daphne is a fantastic creation, a woman who has a 🐂 💩 sensor permanently set to high. She is the cool but naughty girl from school grown up - the one permanently given detention but not bothering to turn up and daring someone to do something about it because her grades are excellent.

The book is full of unlikely scenarios that you’ll embrace anyway and packed with loveable characters. A perfect summer read.

Also. Mum. When you refuse to go to the ‘social club’ because it’s full of ‘old people’, I get it now. You have more than a hint of Daphne about you, minus the criminality! 😎👵🏻

I had not long since read and enjoyed The Authenticity Project when I saw this book on Netgalley, so clicked very quickly!

Following the patrons at the Hammersmith Mandel Community Centre, How To Age Disgracefully mainly follows just-turned 70 year old Daphne as she decides she is fed up of feeling lonely and joins the centres Senior's group. A unique character, she initially seems to rub people up the wrong way, but she slowly affects their lives in different ways showing that despite her methods, her heart is always in the right place.

There are some books where there are too many characters and keeping track of them becomes distracting, and there are books like this one where it is pitched perfectly. A great mix of personalities who bounced off each other brilliantly and made this a funny, heartwarming and uplifting read!

If you liked Clare Pooley’s previous books, you will definitely enjoy this one. She is an auto-buy author for me!

A delightful, character driven book with a brilliantly fun cast of people spanning all ages. The writing was great and although it is a light hearted story, it had so much depth. I loved the characters - quirky, nuanced and engaging. Told from multiple POVs, you will root for the band of misfits as they work towards saving the community center.

I love that Pooley wanted to write a story with older people at the forefront “bossing it” as she describes in the acknowledgements. And bossing it they certainly do!

Thank you to NetGallery and Random house UK for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Clare Pooley knocks it out the park with everything she writes, and this book is no exception! I love the way she manages to craft communities of characters all with their own distinct personalities and plenty of quirky souls to boot! This story brings together people from different walks of life - different ages and backgrounds and interests and personalities all in one unlikely place. I’m left feeling buoyed by the long lasting friendships forged in these pages, and wanting desperately to wrangle myself a place in the social club to play a round of truth or dare jenga and grab a slice of lemon drizzle.

Daphne felt like the stand out character in this book, with her bold personality and mysterious past, but really everyone we meet has their own draw, and pulled me in with their individual stories. We don’t know everyone in the social club well by the close of the book but we know enough to love them all and I was sad to reach the end and say goodbye to this wild bunch and their wilder adventures.

How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley

I adored this book! This was such a fun, wholesome and engaging read. I loved how Pooley explored human relationships and human psychology in such depth and with real skill. This book was both hilarious and devastatingly sad at different points, meaning that the readers are taken on one heck of a rollercoaster ride. I laughed out loud at numerous points throughout this book, but the most memorable quote I have taken away from this is one said by the wonderful Daphne, "She appeared to have jumped out of the frying pan of sexism and into the fire of ageism. The final frontier of isms". I loved this quote, and how sexism, ageism, classism all played a part in this book and were explored subtly yet powerfully by the author. Although there are quite a few hard-hitting and gut-wrenching moments in this book (Art's rejection by his own daughter, Daphne's shady past, Ziggy's trouble with gangs, Lydia's awful home life, etc), the humour helps lighten the mood yet does not detract from the otherwise rather serious topics explored. I could go on forever, but I will just say that I LOVED reading this book. I have not had such a fun time reading a book in quite some time.

I loved the intergenerational theme in this book and how not only did the elderly characters impart their wisdom onto the younger characters, but also vice versa. In particular I loved the relationships between Ziggy, Daphne and Kylie as well as Art and the children from the nativity. Daphne, although I was skeptical at first, quickly became one of the best, most relatable and hilarious characters I've read about in a while. I loved her bluntness, her inner strength and her "dont give a f*ck attitude". It was really refreshing to read a book centered around elderly people that didn't follow the usual stereotype of portraying them as frail, boring people with no personality or passion in life. My favourite scene from the entire book (apart from the dog show, which was so heart-warming and wholesome) was when Daphne went on her first date since Jack. I think most women out there will have wished at some point in their life that they could be as honest as Daphne and tell a pompous man some hard-hitting home truths and then be brave enough to pour red wine all over his lap. I laughed hysterically! I must say I also quite enjoyed Lydia's character; or more so the personal growth her character showed throughout the book. The author explores the devastating effects of adultery on people's lives through Lydia, and this was simply heartbreaking to read. However, I enjoyed their (pretty harmless) revenge on Lydia's husband and cackled when I read about some of the things they did to him in retaliation - the knitted phallus made me almost cry laughing. He wholeheartedly deserved it! This hugely diverse group of characters were all so perfectly crafted, with each of them having personal struggles that, together as a group, they were able to overcome one by one. This book really highlights the power of friendship and how a chosen family can be just as important and fulfilling as blood relatives, if not more so.

Like I said, I could go on and on explaining every aspect of this book and why I fell in love with it, but I will instead just urge you to pick it up yourself and experience the rollercoaster first-hand. I cannot express enough how much I enjoyed reading this. I cannot wait to buy more books from this author as she writes beautifully. I rated this book 5 out of 5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and Clare Pooley for the ARC.

Thank you to the publisher for my review copy, this was a fantastic read.

Take a group of Septugenarians, each with a secret to hide, a teenage single dad and a menopausal woman with a cad of a husband, blend with a dog called Maggie Thatcher and a race to save a community centre and you have a delightfully uplifting romp.

This is filled with the same humour and dry wit as other Clare Pooley books. The characters are all fantastically created; downtrodden Lydia and hard-nosed Daphne, although very different, were my favourites.

This is another heart warming story which features a cast of characters you will fall in love with. As always her characters are such likeable and funny people to spend time with. It gives found family vibes with strong personalities which take you with them every step of the way.

Again, the age range of her characters bring generations together and the kindness and love of those in this story just warms your heart. I loved Daphne, what a woman who under all her layers rocks, she self assured and by the end I was in awe of her, she never wavered and found herself at the heart of the community where she deserved to be.

I can only say I will read anything Clare Poole writes, it just such a self soothing experience and you just need one of her books, a warm drink and blanket and the world is a better place to be. Brilliant.

Thanks to NetGalley for an e-arc in return for an honest review.

Love Clare Pooley books. This is as good as the previous two. Engaging story that holds your attention. It’s a great fun read. Highly recommend

Loved this book, Clare Pooley excels in writing books about the most unlikely relationships between a motley crew of characters. P.S. When I grow old(er) I want to be Daphne.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Sometimes when books are advertised as 'laugh out loud funny' I don't...... but this book was a riot from beginning to end. What an amazing bunch of characters, each one different but all so likeable. It was a pleasure getting to know them. A great story full of fun, and also some sadness, but one I'm definitely happy to recommend. Thanks to the publisher, the author and netgalley for an advance copy of How to Age Disgracefully.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy of How to Age Disgracefully.
As a seventy year old (who can't believe she's not still 28) my first introduction to Daphne was disappointed with the cliches involved in her description and I nearly called it a day but I am so glad I didn't. As time went on I grew to love all the characters who were so well drawn, and of course I totally empathasise with their 'invisibility'. I laughed out loud and that doesn't happen very often, and at times I cried but mostly I cheered them all on, great fun and recommended to all age groups, there's something for everyone.

This story was beautiful in as much as it brought the majority of age ranges together and they all got on together superbly, the wonderful characters, so well written drew you into their lives with love, laughter and bad temper but always with a thread of sadness running through

I just loved "How to Age Disgracefully" and I would love to be more like Daphne next year when I turn 70! This is a truly life affirming book which demonstrates how multiple generations can work together to make things happen. There are so many aspects of modern day society which are covered and this is a real page-turner of a book. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.