James Jeffrey
An ode to family life in all its glorious mess and chaos
For the young James Jeffrey, the day his parents split was like the splitting of the atom. Life took on a seismic instability filled with madness and strain and vendetta and daftness and acts of love, both beautiful and misguided. Yet, what could have been a calamitous upbringing turned instead into an education. For better or worse, his family handed out lessons that would guide him through life, into marriage, and eventually parenthood. My Family and Other Animus is an ode to his family.
On the Bright Side. Hendrick Groen. 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.