Short description
Too young to get whisked away by a Stannah Stairlift, or to enjoy the luxury of a Walk-In Bath, Marie, is all the same, getting on in years - and she's thrilled about it. She's a bit pre-occupied about whether to give up sex but there are compensations, like falling in love all over again - but this time with her baby grandson, Gene.
Long description
'Certainly not!' said Marie Sharp, when a friend suggests she join a bookclub when she turns sixty. 'Bookclub people always seem to have to wade through Captain Corelli's Mandolin or, groan, The God of Small Things. They feel they've forever got to poke their brain with a pointed stick to keep it working. But either you've got a lively brain or you haven't. And anyway, I don't want to be young and stimulated any more. Those oldies who spend their lives bicycling across Mongolia at eighty and para-gliding at ninety, aren't brilliant specimens of old age. No, they're just tragic failures who haven't come to terms with aging. I want to start doing old things, not young things'. Too young to get whisked away by a Stannah Stairlift, or to enjoy the luxury of a Walk-In Bath (but not so much that she doesn't enjoy comfortable shoes), Marie, is all the same, getting on in years - and she's thrilled about it! She's a bit pre-occupied about whether to give up sex - 'Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!' - but there are compensations, like falling in love all over again - but this time with her baby grandson, Gene. Curmudgeonly, acute, and funny, this fictionalised audio diary is what happens when grumpy old women meet Bridget Jones.
Review
A divorced woman, turning 60, decides there are actually advantages to getting old.In this debut from Ironside, Marie Sharp, advice columnist for The Independent and retired art teacher, makes a remarkable discovery: She likes being old. Free rides on public transit! Free eye exams! Most of all, she likes being alone. Well, alone as in not having a relationship with a man, that is. In fact, she's given them up. Hasn't the time for them, really. She has great friends she's known for more than 40 years, and besides, she has just learned she's about to achieve that greatest moniker of all: Grannie. When baby Gene is born, Marie thinks her world is complete, but the human condition doesn't seem primed for stasis, and suddenly Marie finds herself waking in the middle of the night with weird dreams and fears for Gene's safety: His socks are too tight. Never mind that grass can sprout through tarmac! His feet might be damaged. And her dear friend Hughie, a gay man so physically attractive that even now, after decades of loving friendship, Marie finds herself momentarily wondering if he and she could ever. . . . But she catches herself. She's given up sex. Resolutely. And anyway, the results from Hughie's MRI are in - and the news is bad. Hughie is resigned to the fact that he has just months to live, but James, his partner, is bereft. Meanwhile, Marie's childhood friend Penny has begun a new round of Internet dating - now with a 30-year-old. Through it all, Marie pours out her heart into her journal, but one name keeps popping up: Archie. She had a crush on him in high school, and now he is a widower. Better late than never. A smart, funny coming-of-old-age novel. (Kirkus Reviews)