Penny Mirren tells the heartwarming tale of a retired woman who rediscovers herself.
Following the death of her husband, Maggie realises that retirement isn’t quite the same without him. Having studied cookery at college in her youth, she looks for a job in a local kitchen. Scorned for her age she feels a little hopeless, that is until she and her daughter go out for dinner at the Golden Crocus and she discovers old age isn’t a barrier.
This is a story about love, friendship, community and family. It is a beautiful tale and you find yourself really connecting with the characters and how they’ve all become stuck in a rut. Mirren helps draw the characters out of their shell and realise what life is truly about.

This is a fabulous book. The characters come alive on the page, and make you want to cheer them on through their challenges.

Maggie is a retired widow who is looking for ways to fill her life. Hannah is a single mom trying to manage a career while staying connected with her daughter and her mom, Maggie, who returns to her childhood home of Saffron Walden. The Golden Crocus restaurant is the catalyst for change for both of them, and for the friends, new and old, that join them on their journey.

I would love to see more stories featuring Maggie, Hannah and Saffron Walden.

What a fantastic book. Finding new purpose, friends and career.
The death of her husband leaves Maggie devastated and only looking after her granddaughter is keeping her going through the grief.
Moving back to her hometown as a single parent Hannah is trying to juggle everything.
A rare night out for a meal as mum and daughter is the unexpected catalyst for change.
Enjoy I did

This was a fun, heartfelt story that read like a sweet Hallmark movie. The cast of characters is relatable and lovable. I wish Maggie was my granny! Thank you to NetGalley!

Lovely gentle story about community, family and generations coming together in a common aim to save the local Indian restaurant. The kind of book to curl up with a nice drink and read in one go. Thanks to the author, NetGalley and publishers for the ARC.

The Unretirement is an uplifting story about the joy of pursuing dreams at any age, full of warmth, heart and community spirit.The ending was AMAZING I cannot wait to read more from this writer, definitely a book I will revisit many times and get a paper copy

A cute little read that I thoroughly enjoyed. It only took me a few hours.
Maggie is quite the character. She gumption, spirit, charismatic all rolled into one.
There were places that I laughed, cried, and rooted for her all the way through.

Thanks NetGalley for the unretirement. I thoroughly enjoyed the read. Love the characters - especially Maggie - and found the read a delight. Highly recommend it

Be kind and pay it forward.

This story isn't exactly about what to do with oneself after retiring, but more about finding what makes you smile. Admittedly, I was feeling unsure about both Maggie and Hannah who repeatedly were being judgmental and making unkind remarks about eating vegan or organic, or the neighbor wearing Lycra.

However, it is a delight to read books with female main characters like Maggie being one mean mother-cooker! The Unretirement is a book that deserves to be on my for-a-rainy-day shelf on Goodreads as it made me laugh with all the colorful characters being a part of a newly found group of friends, regardless of age, backgrounds, difficulties in life and such. Next time all we need is a chronic or a disabled person added tot the mix :)

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

I loved this book. Bit sad in parts. You never know how kind people are behind close doors. Los of yummy cooking descriptions .It is a story of Maggie who is nearly retired and how she finds a new lease of life cooking in an Indian restaurant . That is a very simple description of the books.There are lots of twists, a lovely grandchild , the horrors of commuting and as a single mum getting the work life balance and failing in love again. Love it . My review does not do it justice .

Honestly, I grabbed this complimentary ARC from Netgalley for the cover, which is soo dangerous, right?
You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover! (But it looked so fun!)
I've definitely been burned before when I've done that, but not this time - this was a delightful read.

I am always up for a "second chance at life" read.
Maggie's retirement life was firmly set in her mind, until life threw her the cruelest of curve balls.
But as we all know, when one door closes, another will open.
I happily followed her rediscovery of a past passion for cooking, and the way she went after her goals.
The cast of characters helping her breathe new life into a struggling restaurant was heartwarming.
It was easy to connect with Maggie, her daughter Hannah, and her daughter Alice, and see them work together to find their happiness.

I recommend this read, and voluntarily leave my review. This is sweet, heartwarming, and an enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this copy for my honest review.

What an enjoyable read! A delightful story about Maggie who has recently retired, but finds herself wanting to relive her passion of cooking. She finds a local restaurant struggling and with the help of the community, turns it around. It also follows her daughter Hannah who struggles with balancing her life as a solicitor and as a single mum to the adorable Alice. A truly heartwarming story I would recommend anyone to read.

Maggie is recently retired, she had planned on spending her retirement years with her husband travelling and exploring the world.But life had other plans and now the years stretching in front of her seem so lonely. When an impromptu dinner with her daughter at her favourite local restaurant revels that the spot is struggling, Maggie finds her purpose. Determined to lend a hand and get the once popular restaurant back to its former glory, Maggie starts to find her joy again, chopping and cooking in a small kitchen with a dedicated if inexperienced crew.

I love authors that create a strong and interesting cast of side characters. I could and would happily read a book about any of Maggie’s restaurant co-workers. But I also really enjoyed reading about Maggie. Her joy in the kitchen as well as her love of the people in it is infectious. If you love a good underdog story you will love rooting for the restaurant to succeed. There is a real community heart in this story and it’s heartwarming to watch it come together. My only real complaint is h the food sounded so amazing it made me hungry.
Releasing November 12 2024.
Thank you to @netgalley @avonbooksuk and @sampenningtonwrites for letting me review #theunretierment
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A lovely heartwarming story of community and family. A great cast of characters and a lovely ending. Highly recommended.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. As a pension and one who still works full time I could really relate to the characters in this book and it also had a great storyline. I really enjoyed it.

The unretirement is a total joy of a book!
Championing the older woman , showing that ageing, retirement and widowhood is not the end of the road but could successfully be navigated in such a way as to provide a second chance at life!
The sense of community, friendship and general wholesomeness makes this book such an endearing read that will give you hope and inspiration as you face getting older!
Absolutely loved the storyline, setting and the vastly diverse range of characters who despite their age, background,gender, sexuality or experience all came together for one worthwhile cause , all under the instructions of the magnificent Maggie!
A great read that I would highly recommend
Thank you NetGalley for this early read

Entertaining, heartwarming and inspirational.

Following some amazing travelling in her early retirement, the now recently widowed Maggie is feeling a little lost and unclear what she should do with her time.

Enjoying an evening out with her daughter Hannah, at an old favourite place, all doesn't seem to be as she remembered it. It turns our the owners have returned to India and their son has taken over. However he is a tech geek and not a trained chef... Maggie realises that the kitchen is struggling and jumps in to rescue the evening.

Afterwards she's full of positive energy and she's taking charge trying to help the restaurant to survive - and to get back her own purpose in life.

Full of inspiration, hope, community spirit and an annoying baddie...

Overall this was very enjoyable, cosy read and a really solid debut novel.

It followed some very familiar patterns that I’ve seen in similar books of this genre (I’m thinking specifically of the memory library which explores similar themes but with more emotional investment). But for me The Unretirement is overall just a very ‘light’ book. It’s a definite easy read and it doesn’t really get gritty with anything, there’s no deep emotional exploration, gripping plot, or significant relationship developments really - it’s just a sweet little book with some relatively likeable characters.

Something I do absolutely love though, is that I am seeing more and more books like this that are centred around women who aren’t teenagers or in their early twenties. I feel like there’s so much more that should be explored here as I really enjoy reading about women who have lived a little and have real world responsibilities to juggle alongside the ‘fun plot’ that unfolds.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC

The Unretirement is Penny Mirren's debut novel. I really enjoyed this novel. It was light and clean and featured mature women characters. There were many references to food that sounded delicious and i was happy to find recipes at the end of The Unretirement. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there actually is a town named Saffron Walden.

If you like books about how a community comes together, you would like The Unretirement. (I was reading a book with very serious content and very happy to mix in The Unretirement.)

I'd be quite pleased to read another book by Penny Mirren and i hope she keeps writing!

Many thanks to NetGalley for introducing me to another new to me author! Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Papaperback for the opportunity to read the advance review copy of The Unretirement in exchange for an honest review. Approx 384 (paperback) pages. Publication date is Nov 12, 2024.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Maggie is happy to be home. Har favorite restaurant has changed and is no longer the same . She decides that they need her assistance with this endeavor. A quick. read.