![]() ![]() ![]() Taylor does not shy away from the realities of age: frailty, incontinence, and chronic pain are all present. The Claremont is a hotel in South Kensington where a small group of elderly residents have chosen to spend their almost-last days. But it also features two beautiful portraits: one of a happy marriage viewed in retrospect, and one of an unexpected springtime friendship that rescues two people - one very young, one very old - from neglect. It is, in some regards, a very sad book, about loneliness and mortality. By the time I had reached the end, I wanted to push it into the hands of anyone below retirement age. When I read the blurb - residents of a London hotel “fight off boredom and the Grim Reaper” - I thought it an odd choice. I WAS given Elizabeth Taylor’s Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, first published in 1971, as a wedding gift. ![]()
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