Introduction

“An uproarious romp!” —People

“Pooley weaves together the most cleverly flawed and lovable characters and then sets them free to prove that we are limitless at any age.” —Annabel Monaghan, bestselling author of Summer Romance

A senior citizens’ center and a daycare collide with hilarious results in the new ensemble comedy from New York Times-bestselling author Clare Pooley

When Lydia takes a job running the Senior Citizens’ Social Club three afternoons a week, she assumes she’ll be spending her time drinking tea and playing gentle games of cards.

The members of the Social Club, however, are not at all what Lydia was expecting. From Art, a failed actor turned kleptomaniac to Daphne, who has been hiding from her dark past for decades to Ruby, a Banksy-style knitter who gets revenge in yarn, these seniors look deceptively benign—but when age makes you invisible, secrets are so much easier to hide.

When the city council threatens to sell the doomed community center building, the members of the Social Club join forces with their tiny friends in the daycare next door—as well as the teenaged father of one of the toddlers and a geriatric dog—to save the building. Together, this group’s unorthodox methods may actually work, as long as the police don’t catch up with them first.

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Discussion Questions

From the publisher - added by Pauline

1. This story is told from the perspective of four main characters. Which did you like the most and why?

2. The main characters in How to Age Disgracefully are a teenaged single father, a menopausal empty-nester, and two septuagenarians. Which of these stages of life do you think is the hardest to navigate?

3. When age makes you invisible, secrets are easier to hide. Is this true? Can you think of any examples?

4. Which of the characters in the novel do you think changes the most during the course of the story?

5. Art and Daphne are both criminals. Are there mitigating circumstances? Can you forgive them?

6. Ziggy also breaks the law—getting caught up in drug dealing. Why does he do this? Does he have any other choice?

7. We never meet Ziggy’s mum. What are your impressions of her and her parenting?

8. Is Lydia’s revenge on Jeremy justified and proportionate? Should she take him back?

9. In Clare Pooley’s author’s note she says that older characters in novels are often stereotyped. Is this true? If so, what are the stereotypes you’ve noticed?

10. If you had to choose a permanent carer for Maggie Thatcher, who would it be and why?

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