Sophia Gregory is fading away…

Recently split from her married lover and about to turn sixty, Sophia doesn’t recognize the old woman staring back at her in the mirror. Where has her life gone so wrong? How has it come to this? A quiet holiday in beautiful Rhodes is the perfect chance for her to find herself again.

Until she meets the Old Ducks!
Bold and brash, Juliette, Kim, and Anita are three friends who are determined not to grow old gracefully – and they are Sophia’s worse nightmare! But when Sophia is made an honorary member of The Old Ducks’ Club, she begins to discover a new side to life. Dancing and drinking till dawn Sophia starts to shake off her grey, drab old life and finds the fun side to living again!

And when she meets her gorgeous Greek neighbor, Theo, she thinks that maybe, if she’s just a little braver, she can learn to spread her wings again…

It’s never too late to teach an Old Duck new tricks!

A rip-roaring, laugh-out-loud story about the importance of friendship and always, always having fun! Perfect for fans of Judy Leigh and Dee Macdonald.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I’d been finding now I was approaching sixty that there had been a gradual increase in my invisibility… But sometimes that was a good thing, to be able to merge into the background. It meant I’d probably make a good shoplifter. Not that I ever would of course.

 

I didn’t have the figure for crossover bodices and dangling ties. I tended to look as though I was wearing a hospital gown backwards which wasn’t the look I was hoping for.

 

I needed to get the tweezers out and check my incipient moustache. I think it’s to do with hormones or lack of them. I dimly remember my grandmother when I was a child; she could have given Hercule Poirot a run for his money by the time she had died at eighty-seven.

 

I bet she will look at you with an evil glint in her eye and ask you awkward questions. That’s what they do, old aunts… Stewart had three of them who were positively poisonous. Like the witches in Macbeth without the cauldron. Or the humanity. They came to our wedding because Stewart was too scared not to invite them and they sat together making snide comments. Asking if I was pregnant or just fat. Did I think it was appropriate to wear white? … And she will probably have an evil old dog on her lap, so make a fuss of it… but don’t try and stroke it because it will probably bite you. Stewart’s Auntie Mim had a Pomeranian with teeth like needles and the same temperament as Mim. I sometimes think Mim would have bitten me too given half a chance.

 

My Review:

 

Being that I am of a certain age and well qualified to be an Old Duck – I delighted in this lively and engaging tale featuring mature women with spunk; and yes, we do exist. This was my first exposure to the wry wit and amusing charm of Maddie Please and I quickly succumbed to her magic and soon found myself in Greece, overindulging in food and drink while sitting in a hot tub with new friends. Clearly, her clever arrangements of words resonated with me. Her characters were colorful and uniquely quirky yet endearing and curiously knowable. The storylines were pleasantly entertaining and easy to follow with generous helpings of humor, lush descriptions, and observant insights. Proof that we can be sassy and still classy and it is never too late to start a new chapter of our own.   I need more of this and have added her to my list of favorites.