Francesca Stubbs is nearing the end of her life. Employed by a charitable trust researching living arrangements for the elderly, she attends conferences and visits care homes while attending to her panoply of ageing and dying friends: her ex-husband Claude, to whom she takes chicken soup; and her friend Teresa, who is “dying with such style and commitment that Fran is deeply impressed”. Meanwhile, Fran muses on her strained relationships with her son Christopher and her daughter Poppet.
This is not a novel with much emphasis on plot. Instead it is an acerbic, sharp, occasionally laborious meditation on what it means to lead a good life and how to ensure a good death. In a series of incisive character studies, Drabble questions how we escape the “humiliations” of old age: “Longevity has fucked up our pensions, our work-life balance, our health service, our housing, our happiness. It has fucked up old age itself.”
The Dark Flood Rises is published by Canongate (£16.99). Click here to order a copy for £13.93
