We’re of the opinion that the main joy of retiring is that we’ll have more time to read. But do we want to read about teenyboppers and first crushes and all that jazz? No. We want to relate. And these books may not be new (hey … neither are we) but they are five of our favourites.
Margot is a rebel-hearted 83-year-old, who is befriended by 17-year-old Lenni. Both of them in hospital … neither of them are going to leave. Between the two, they’re 100 … and to celebrate their shared century, they decide to paint their life stories. Of growing old and staying young, of giving joy, of receiving kindness, of losing love, of finding the person who is everything. Two of the most extraordinary characters who’ll steal your hearts. Fiercely alive, hysterically funny and brimming with tenderness, The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin unwraps the extraordinary gift of life even when it is about to be taken away, and revels in our infinite capacity for friendship and love when we need them most. Just brilliant! Read it.
When Harold Fry nips out one morning to post a letter, leaving his wife hoovering upstairs, he has no idea that he’s about to walk from one end of the country to the other. He has no hiking boots or map, let alone a compass, waterproof or mobile phone. All he knows is that he must keep walking. To save someone else’s life. Harold’s the dearest chap imaginable … The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce is a brilliant read.
It’s never too late to make a difference. Or to make new friends. And in The Lido by Libby Page, Rosemary Peterson and her new cub-reporter friend do just that. When the outdoor pool Rosemary has swum in daily from the day it opened is threatened with closure, she and Kate team up to save this neighbourhood institution. Love, loss, growing old, friendship … all wrapped up in a feel-good story.
In Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon, 84-year-old Florence has fallen in her flat at Cherry Tree Home for the Elderly. As she waits to be rescued, she considers the charming new resident – one who looks exactly like a man she once knew – a man who died sixty years ago. His arrival has stirred memories she and her life-long friend Elsie thought they’d laid to rest. Florence wonders if a terrible secret from their past is about to come to light.
This is a proper laugh-out-loud read, with a collection of delightful characters – including a recluse birder, an old charmer, a wonderful nurse and a mad-as-a-hatter old duck whose performance in a late night cabaret will have you rolling on the floor. Besides being massively entertaining, The Great Escape From Woodlands Nursing Home, is an insightful read … author Joanna Nell brings up some serious issues about obstacles many old, often frail people face when entering a frail care centre or nursing home.
All of these available from Exclusive Books
