Showing results by author "Joanna Nell" in All Categories

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. Following a very minor traffic accident, things have turned frosty with her grown-up children, and she is afraid they are trying to take away her independence. Noticing her memory isn't what it used to be, Peggy is taking ever more inventive steps to cover up her dwindling faculties.

The Marjorie Marshall Memorial Cafeteria has been serving refreshments and raising money at the hospital for over 50 years, long after anybody can remember who Marjorie Marshall actually was. Staffed by successive generations of dedicated volunteers, the beloved cafeteria is known as much for offering a kind word and sympathetic ear (and often unsolicited life advice) as for its tea and buns.

As the wife of retired ship's doctor Dr Henry Parker, Evelyn is living out her twilight years aboard the Golden Sunset. Every night she dresses for dinner - gown, tiara, runners - and regales her fellow passengers with stories of a glamorous life travelling the world in luxury as well as showing off her superior knowledge of everything from ships' customs to biographical details of her heroine, Florence Nightingale. The crew treat her with deference. And forbearance.

Husband and wife GPs Alan and Heather Winterbottom have worked side by side in their idyllic rural practice for over forty years but now they've decided to hang up their stethoscopes and retire. Joy! Celebration! Or not . . . Heather dreams of exploring the Greek Islands, of escaping the shackles of her routine life and embracing an exciting new adventure. Alan dreams of growing his own vegetables. When things come to a head at a family lunch, Heather announces that she has decided to take a year off. From her old life, from her marriage - from Alan.

At nearly 90, retired nature writer Hattie Bloom prefers the company of birds to people, but when a fall lands her in a nursing home, she struggles to cope with the loss of independence and privacy. From the confines of her 'room with a view' of the carpark, she dreams of escape. A fellow 'inmate', the gregarious would-be comedian Walter Clements, also plans on returning home as soon as he is fit and able to take charge of his mobility scooter.

Retired academic Martin Pottinger's romantic aspirations for the delectable head of his former university's archaeology department, Professor Mary Blake, seem about to be realised. If only he could devise a plan to manage the demands of his eccentric elderly mother, Edwina. Recently bereaved Grace Cavendish spends her days helping out at All Souls Church, making it her mission to drown out the Reverend Rod's tone-deaf hymn-singing and give each funeral recipient a hearty send-off.

Peggy Smart, Alter: 79, Beziehungsstatus: Es ist kompliziert... Peggys Alltag ist so langweilig und beige wie die Klamotten in ihrem Schrank: Scrabble, Wassergymnastik, Arztbesuche. Auch die Enkel könnten häufiger vorbeikommen. Aber dass das Leben mit 79 noch bunt sein kann, das beweist eine alte Freundin. Als Angie neu in das Seniorendorf einzieht, mischt sie die Rentnergemeinschaft ordentlich auf. Auch Peggy erwacht aus ihrer Lethargie. Denn die früheren Freundinnen sind immer schon Rivalinnen gewesen.

Peggy Smart, Alter: 79, Beziehungsstatus: Es ist kompliziert... Peggys Alltag ist so langweilig und beige wie die Klamotten in ihrem Schrank: Scrabble, Wassergymnastik, Arztbesuche. Auch die Enkel könnten häufiger vorbeikommen. Aber dass das Leben mit 79 noch bunt sein kann, das beweist eine alte Freundin. Als Angie neu in das Seniorendorf einzieht, mischt sie die Rentnergemeinschaft ordentlich auf. Auch Peggy erwacht aus ihrer Lethargie. Denn die früheren Freundinnen sind immer schon Rivalinnen gewesen. Und so dauert es nicht lange, bis beide für den charmanten Nachbarn Brian schwärmen.