Beach bag feeling a little empty? Fill it with Clare Pooley’s How to Age Disgracefully!  

When age makes you invisible, secrets are easier to hide... 

Daphne knows that age is just a number. She also knows that society no longer pays her any attention – something she’s happy to exploit to help her hide a somewhat chequered past. But 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. 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 have underestimated the wrong group of pensioners... and with the help of a teenage dad and a geriatric, orphaned dog, the incongruous gang set out to prove it. As long as their pasts don't catch up with them first… 

WIN with Penguin Books! 

Dreaming of lounging in the sun, lost in a great book? Thanks to our fantastic partnership with Penguin Books, one lucky reader will win a family Jet2holiday to one of six incredible destinations and a Penguin book bundle worth £200! Choose from Morocco, Croatia, Italy, Turkey, Greece or Majorca and take your brand-new holiday reads along for the ride. 

Want in? Enter here! 

About the author 

Clare Pooley graduated from Newnham College, Cambridge and spent twenty years in the world of advertising, before becoming a full-time writer. Clare's dark but hilarious memoir, The Sober Diaries, has helped thousands of people around the world to quit drinking. The Authenticity Project, Clare's debut novel, was a BBC Radio 2 book club pick, a New York Times bestseller, the winner of the RNA debut novel award and a Babelio award. It's been translated into 29 languages. The People on Platform 5 is Clare's second novel, inspired by her fascination with inventing stories about her fellow passengers on her commute to work. Clare lives in Fulham, London with her husband, three children and two border terriers. 

Reviews 

‘Uplifting, heartwarming and joyful. Restored my faith in humankind, it’s the perfect book to escape to in these troubled times. So funny, so moving, and so glad I read it.’ Ruth Jones 

‘A feelgood comedy about the perils of underestimating OAPs. Clare Pooley's third novel is an affectionate swipe at ageism - her witty turn of phrase and gloriously British sense of humour make this a breezily entertaining read, and Daphne is a scurrilous delight’ The Times 

‘How to Age Disgracefully is a celebration of life at every age and stage. I laughed, cried and cheered at this wonderful novel’ Jennie Godfrey, Sunday Times bestselling author of The List of Suspicious Things 

‘A warm and uplifting story about making friends, smashing stereotypes and the importance of community - I loved it’ Sarah Turner 

Start by diving into a free extract, then grab your copy over on the Penguin Books website! 

Read on for Clare Pooley's Q&A! 

Tell us about your fabulous new book! 

How to Age Disgracefully was inspired by my belief that while growing older is inevitable, growing up is very much optional. It’s about an eclectic group of senior citizens in a social club who join up with some of the toddlers and parents in the nursery next door to save their beloved community centre. High jinks ensue! 

Where do you find your inspiration for your stories? 

From the world around me. Often they’re inspired by the question what would happen if? For example, what would happen if we all told the real truth about our lives? (The Authenticity Project). What would happen if we talked to strangers on our commute? (The People on Platform 5). What would happen if we refused to conform to the stereotypes of ageing? (How to Age Disgracefully). 

What has been your favourite moment to date as an author? 

I was incredibly lucky, in that six major publishers bid for my debut novel, so it ended up going to auction. That meant that in one day I visited several publishers who all told me why they’d love to publish my book. It honestly felt like I was in a dream. That was the big moment. And the small, but equally thrilling one, was when I first spotted a book I’d written ‘out in the wild’, being read by a real person. 

If you could have a conversation with any literary figure, past or present, in their home country, who would it be and why? 

I’d love to meet Jane Austen, to tell her that her stories would still be being read, and turned into something called film and TV, over two hundred years after she wrote them. That is the power of a really fabulous storyteller. 

Where do you go to recharge your batteries? 

In the UK it has to be Cornwall! It’s my happy place. I’m a middle-aged cliché who loves wild swimming, all year round. But if I’m looking for guaranteed sun, the Greek Islands. 

In what ways do you research destinations for your books, especially places you haven't visited? 

I do try to spend time in all my locations. It’s important to know what a place sounds like, feels like and smells like, and you don’t get that from just looking at pictures on the internet. It’s also important not just to visit the obvious tourist spots, but to just sit – at a table on the pavement outside a café, perhaps – and just watch the world go by. That’s when inspiration often strikes. 

What role do you believe literature plays in encouraging people to explore new places? 

Novels are a way of travelling inside your head, and having spent so much time in those locations really makes you want to experience the real thing! Daphne du Maurier inspired me to explore Cornwall, Gerald Durrell made me long to live in Corfu, and Armistead Maupin caused me to fly to San Francisco! 

Do you prefer to write about real locations or create entirely fictional settings? Why? 

Always real locations, as that makes the fictional elements of your novel feel more realistic. 

Which 3 people would make up your dream travel companions and why?  

Bill Bryson – because he’d know wonderful facts about everywhere and everything, Sir David Attenborough – to point out the fabulous natural world around us, and Agatha Christie - because she’d be bound to notice some nefarious action going down! 

Tell us something about yourself that we likely don’t know! The more obscure the better!  

I sang in ABBA’s backing group when I was 11 years old. Seriously. I was one of the choir of kids who sang the chorus of I Have a Dream. Still one of the most exciting moments of my life. 

Which profession do you look at and think: “I’d love to be able to do that?” 

I’d love to be able to act. I often think that actors are much like novelists, in that they have to really inhabit a character, and to see the world through their eyes. But I then demonstrate that with words, whereas they use actions. It’s all different forms of storytelling. 

Quick fire round 
Beach holiday or city break? I love the sea, so it has to be beach. 
Hotel or villa? Villa (I love to cook) 
What’s your favourite book, ever? I cannot do that! Sorry, it’s like choosing a favourite child. 
What are you reading right now? The Covenant of Water, which is making me want to go to Kerala. 
What are 3 words to describe yourself? Curious (some might say nosey), adventurous, imaginative. 
What is the one thing you always travel with? A bag of books! 
Bookmark or dog-eared pages? I’m a corner turner. Sorry! 
Kindle or paperback while outside? Paperback. 
Do you like to write while away or is a holiday a holiday? I write every day, wherever I am. 
Sample adventurous local food or stick to what you know? Local food, every time. 
Window or aisle seat? Window. 
Sunlounger with your name on it or a fun-packed itinerary? Please can I have both? 
Do you pack your books or bulk buy in the airport? I buy them at the airport. I build in extra time especially, as it’s one of my favourite holiday activities! 
Solo trip or time with the family I love both! 
What will be your Summer Read/s? TJR’s Atmosphere, and the new Fredrik Backman. They are both auto-buy authors for me!