Passionate PENSIONERS
GETTING OLDER DOESN’T MEAN LIFE NEEDS TO GET DULL, AS PEGGY FINDS OUT
If you enjoy novels that are humorous and warm, poignant and thought-provoking, and clever while still being relaxing to read, I think you’ll like The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village.
The star of this story, Peggy Smart, is almost 80 and a widow. She lives in a seaside retirement community, alone apart from her aged dog Basil. She is nursing a secret passion for a fellow resident, handsome widower Brian Cornell, but lacks the confidence to tell him how she feels.
A new arrival appears in the Jacaranda Retirement Village. Glamorous Angie Valentine is an old friend and rival of Peggy’s from years ago. She’s had Botox and has a pacemaker, and is determined to rescue Peggy from her dull life and her wardrobe of relentless drab beige, and school her in the art of ageing disgracefully. However, Angie’s secrets threaten their rekindled friendship.
There are many lovely comedic touches in this novel, such as Peggy’s malapropisms (the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one), which lead to some laugh-outloud moments.
But it also doesn’t flinch from the realities of becoming elderly – the forgetfulness, incontinence and falls. Peggy has over-protective children who leave her feeling bullied and hurt at times. She is lonely after a happy lifetime of marriage to Ted and worried about losing her independence.
There aren’t too many novels with a cast of mostly older characters, and when they do appear in fiction, elderly people are often treated patronisingly or portrayed in a “cutesy” way. With this book, author Joanna Nell achieves a careful balance between hilarity and reality.
It’s a sweetly charming read, and serves as a reminder that we don’t lose our hopes and dreams or the desire to have fun, feel fabulous and fall in love just because we’re over 70.
Perfect summer-holiday reading for young or old.