The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village @Jo_nell_writer

The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village

It's never too late to grow old disgracefully...

The life of 79-year-old pensioner Peggy Smart is as beige as the décor in her retirement village. Her week revolves around aqua aerobics and appointments with her doctor. The highlight of Peggy's day is watching her neighbour Brian head out for his morning swim.

Peggy dreams of inviting the handsome widower - treasurer of the Residents' Committee and one of the few eligible men in the village - to an intimate dinner. But why would an educated man like Brian, a chartered accountant no less, look twice at Peggy? As a woman of a certain age, she fears she has become invisible, even to men in their eighties.

But a chance encounter with an old school friend she hasn't seen in five decades - the glamorous fashionista Angie Valentine - sets Peggy on an unexpected journey of self-discovery.

Can she channel her 'inner Helen Mirren' and find love and friendship in her twilight years?

My review of The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village

This book is a gorgeous read. It focusses on ladies of a certain age and it does so beautifully with warmth, wisdom and humour. It made me laugh out loud, while breaking my heart in the very next sentence. 

We read about seventy-nine year old Peggy, a woman who I would so love to sit and have a cup of tea with. She's a fabulous character. Full of life, opinions, warmth and oodles of humour. She fascinated me. A woman who still has a thirst for life and love. But underpinning all of this is a story about Peggy's past and her relationship with her mother. We also have the topic of incontinence and an overactive bladder,  which I thought was tackled with great understanding and empathy, as well as humour.

This book is full of fabulous characters. We have Angie, the long lost friend who shakes up Peggy's life. We have Brian, the man who Peggy has her eye on, and we then have Dr Stephen, her GP, who reminded me of many a kind and caring junior doctor that I had worked with during my time on the wards as a nurse. I loved their conversations.

This book is a real joy to read. It's refreshing to read a book that highlights the issues surrounding older people with such honesty and which made me think and laugh at the same time.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable light read that tackles some serious issues. It's a beautiful book.

With thanks to the publisher and Jeannelle Brew for the hardback copy.

The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village is published by Hodder & Stoughton and is available to buy in hardback now.