No! I Don't Want to Join a Book Club: Diary of a Sixtieth Year

Read Virginia Ironside's posts on the Penguin Blog.

A screamingly funny and poignant story about embracing life beyond middle age

Marie Sharp is heading toward sixty and is just fine with it. She’s already had plenty of excitement in her life: sex and drugs in the freewheeling sixties, career and children, marriage and divorce. Now she’s ready to settle into a quiet, blissfully boring routine. No Italian classes or gym memberships or bicycle trips across Europe, thank you very much! Marie just wants to put her feet up and “start doing old things.”

She’s even sworn off men! But as it turns out, life still has some surprises in store, the biggest of which is a new grandson on the way. What’s more, Archie, her old childhood crush, suddenly reenters her life, and her closest friend falls seriously ill. Armed with a biting sense of humor, Marie wrestles with a life that refuses to follow her plans—and may still offer more possibilities than she realizes.

Virginia Ironside is a journalist, agony aunt, and author. She served as an editor for Woman and the Sunday Mirror for many years, and has regular columns in The Independent and The Oldie. She has written books in children's and adult fiction, nonfiction, self-help, and memoir, and is published worldwide. She lives in London.