they're on a mission from God

Daphne was tired of being alone. She’d spent 15 years in a self-imposed isolation, and she wants more for her life. It’s time to start living again. And the first thing she needs for that is a white board, so she has a place to plan. It doesn’t matter that she’s in her 70s. She is strong and capable, and if she knocks into someone carrying home her new white board, then that’s not her fault. He should have gotten out of her way.

Art, the 70-something gentleman that Daphne had mowed into with her white board had offered to help and got rudely rebuffed. As an actor, and one who hadn’t had many calls from his agent in a while, Art knew what it was like to be ignored and pushed aside. When he did work, he was the friend, the sidekick, the elderly father, never the star. But he could maybe use some new friends.

Lydia is feeling middle aged, overlooked and underappreciated. Especially by her husband. She had kept the house and raised their two daughters, and now that the girls are off at university, she is ready for something new. That’s why she took the job at the Mandel Community Center, running the local seniors group. She bakes a cake for the occasion of their first meeting.

As soon as Daphne walks into the room for the meeting of the Senior Citizens Social Club, she recognizes Art right away as the guy who had accosted her while she was carrying her white board home. But there are others in the room, Anna with brightly colored hair and a mobility scooter, Ruby with her knitting, William sitting with Art, and Pauline with her small dog. But when part of the ceiling caves in and falls onto Pauline, everything changes for the small group.

Pauline doesn’t survive, as she has a massive stroke when the ceiling comes in. Lydia decides to take over care of the dog, Margaret Thatcher. And the council looks at the cost of repairing the community center building and realizes that they don’t have the money for the repairs. Despite the center being a place for AA meetings, childcare for community parents, the Senior Citizens Social Club, and other clubs for their Hammersmith neighbors, the council can make a lot of money by closing the center and selling the property.

Daphne decides that it’s time for her and her white board to get to work. Besides setting up a dating profile for herself, she makes a list of other things she needs to do, which includes rescuing Lydia from her ungrateful cheating husband, cleaning out Art’s house of his hoarding shame, helping local teenage father Ziggy get into university, and saving the community center. But she won’t be able to do that alone. She’ll need the help of her new senior club friends, photographs from a former paparazzo, the cute kids from the daycare, the work of a talented knitter, a stolen passport, and Margaret Thatcher. And maybe, if everything goes the way she wants it to, she can not only save the community center, she can find some love along the way too.

How to Age Disgracefully is the latest novel from popular novelist Clare Pooley, and it’s one amazing ride. Combining the heart-warming stories of individuals righting old wrongs and the gut-busting humor of a caper story, this novel includes everything you want in a good read. Pooley writes in her author’s note that she was feeling the effects of being in her 50s and a little invisible in the world, so she wanted to write a novel about a group of older adults who have the ability and the strength to make things happen, starting over again at 50, at 18, and at 70.

I love How to Age Disgracefully. I love a caper, and Daphne runs hers with skill and intelligence. She is the driving force behind these people rediscovering their own strengths, and I wish I can be half the woman she is when I get to 70. But Daphne is nothing without the rest of her crew, and every character in this book shines in their own story as well. If I could, I would get this book into the hands of every reader over the age of 40 or so, especially those who are feeling that life may not hold as many surprises from that point on. This book is entertaining as well as inspiring. Book clubs should eat this up. Middle aged women should eat this up. Anyone needing to pivot and find a new passion should eat this up. It’s just that good.

Egalleys for How to Age Disgracefully were provided by Pamela Dorman Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.