On The Bright Side

Product Description

Eighty-five-year-old Hendrik Groen is fed up to his false teeth with coffee mornings and bingo.

He dreams of escaping the confines of his care home and practising hairpin turns on his mobility scooter. Inspired by his fellow members of the recently formed Old-But-Not-Dead Club, he vows to put down his custard cream and commit to a spot of octogenarian anarchy.

But the care home's director will not stand for drunken bar crawls, illicit fireworks and geriatric romance on her watch. The Old-But-Not-Dead Club must stick together if they're not to go gently into that good night. Things turn more serious, however, when rumours surface that the home is set for demolition. It's up to Hendrik and the gang to stop it - or drop dead trying . . .

He may be the wrong side of eighty-five, but Hendrik Groen has no intention of slowing up - or going down without a fight.Eighty-five-year-old Hendrik Groen is fed up to his false teeth with coffee mornings and bingo.

He dreams of escaping the confines of his care home and practising hairpin turns on his mobility scooter. Inspired by his fellow members of the recently formed Old-But-Not-Dead Club, he vows to put down his custard cream and commit to a spot of octogenarian anarchy.

But the care home's director will not stand for drunken bar crawls, illicit fireworks and geriatric romance on her watch. The Old-But-Not-Dead Club must stick together if they're not to go gently into that good night. Things turn more serious, however, when rumours surface that the home is set for demolition. It's up to Hendrik and the gang to stop it - or drop dead trying . . .

He may be the wrong side of eighty-five, but Hendrik Groen has no intention of slowing up - or going down without a fight.
Hendrik Groen started his diaries on the literary website of Torpedo magazine. His first diary, The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 Years Old, has been translated into over thirty languages and On The Bright Side went straight to Number One in its native Netherlands.

Hester Velmans is the author of two popular children's novels and an award-winning translator specializing in modern fiction. Her translation of Renate Dorrestein's A Heart of Stone won the Vondel Prize for Translation.