How to Age Disgracefully

Pooley (Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting) charms in this rollicking tale of six wily members of a London Senior Citizens Social Club whose zest for life improves the outlook of their community center’s part-time worker. Lydia takes a job managing their club as respite from her condescending husband, who she suspects is having an affair. She expects docile card games and is surprised to meet such a vigorous group of older people. Among them is Art, a former soap opera actor who keeps himself entertained by shoplifting; Daphne, a busybody who rarely talks to the others and enjoys the “sensation of power that an imbalance of information imbued”; and Ruth, a “small but fierce-looking” knitter whose unauthorized public art earns such headlines as “Mystery Yarn Bomber of Hammersmith Strikes Again!” When the local council decides to sell the community center to a real estate developer, Lydia’s motley crew attempts to block the deal by pulling off various stunts, like sabotaging a meeting between the council and an architect. Along the way, their tenacity helps Lydia rediscover her self-respect. Pooley’s clever and delightfully farcical scenes are laugh-out-loud funny, often thanks to the frank Daphne. This ought to satisfy Pooley’s fans and win her new ones. Agent: Hayley Steed, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (June)