The Extraordinary life of Frank Derrick, age 81 – By J.B. Morrison – Published by Pan in 2014

From the blurb on the cover I expected something along the lines of the wonderfully quirky ‘A Man Called Ove’. Sadly my enthusiasm was rather dampened as the story progressed.

Frank Derrick is 81 (no surprise there) and he lives with his cat, Bill.

When he suffers a foot injury and a broken arm in an incident with a milk float (don’t you hate it when that happens?), his daughter organises short term home care. Enter Kelly Christmas, full of down to earth good cheer and an inability to park her car properly.

A clever idea, with some amusing incidents along the way but, honestly, far from being ‘funny, moving…uplifting’ as described, I found it rather sad (and I’m guessing that the nearer you are to being 81, the more depressing you’ll find it). Harold’s life seems filled with loneliness and inevitability.

Maybe you need to be in a really upbeat mood to get the best out of this book?