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Michael Joseph is publishing The Book About Getting Older (For People Who Don’t Want to Talk About It) by consultant geriatrician Dr Lucy Pollock.
Managing director Louise Moore acquired world rights from Cathryn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown. The book will publish on 9th July 2020.
Through real-life stories the book aims to "guide us through how to navigate conversations with parents and loved ones that seem tricky or unseemly, including 'should Dad be driving, and if not, who can stop him?' and 'are we all doomed to an incontinent future?'" according to its synopsis. "More and more of us are living to a very great age. But how do we give those we love, and eventually ourselves, a chance to be older as happily and healthily as we possibly can? As a consultant geriatrician with 20 years' experience, Lucy Pollock shares her expertise in something we’ll all encounter either for ourselves or our loved ones: old age. This practical book looks at answers, to questions, big and small, and helps us understand that long life is something to be celebrated and embraced. Most situations, she tells us, are solvable."
Dr Pollock said: "This book aims to capture the delicate, complicated conversations that geriatricians have every day with our patients and their families. I hope you will find them kind, honest and helpful, and that they make you smile. Getting older isn’t all bad! As well as tricky situations that demand expertise and empathy, there’s lots to celebrate. This book looks at how we might best achieve a balance of realistic positivity about ageing."
Moore added: "We are all apprentice old people and if we read this now, we will be so much happier once we get to that future. So many of us have parents and relatives and friends who are already there. Lucy writes with such love, humour, expertise and accessibility about the landscape we will all inhabit, both the macro and the micro. It’s utterly essential and invaluable reading and will change the conversation around living longer and better once and for all."