PPL Evening Book Discussion Group

Tuesday, March 24th - 7 pm

" POIGNANT AND TRUE-TO-LIFE, AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLAR."

- MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

Hendrik Groen started his diary on the literary website of Torpedo Magazine. He says about his novel: "There's not one sentence that's a lie, but not every word is true." The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen has been translated into over twenty languages.

"Amusing [and] wickedly accurate...Reading The Secret Diary, I was constantly put in mind of Ken Kesey's madhouse tale One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, another comi-tragedy concerning the tyranny of institutions of the unwanted. Enjoy Groen's light touch but do not be fooled by it....The Secret Diary is a handbook of resistance for our time."―The Express (UK)

"Funny and frank - a story with a great deal of heart."―Graeme Simsion, New York Times bestselling author of The Rosie Project

"A story about how friendship, selflessness and dignity lie at the heart of the human experience. When I'm an old man, I want to be Hendrik Groen."―John Boyne, internationally bestselling author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Technically speaking, Hendrik Groen is elderly. But at age 83 and one quarter, this feisty curmudgeon has no plans to go out quietly. Bored of weak tea and potted geraniums, exasperated by the indignities of aging, Hendrik has decided to rebel.

He begins writing an exposé: secretly recording the antics of day-to-day life in his retirement home, where he refuses to take himself, or his fellow ""inmates,"" too seriously. With an eccentric group of friends, he founds the Old-But-Not-Dead Club, and he and his best friend, Evert, gleefully stir up trouble, enraging the home's humorless director and turning themselves into unlikely heroes.

When a sweet and sassy widow moves in next door, he is determined to savor every ounce of joy in the time he has left, with hilarious and tender consequences. The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen is an inspiring, charming, and laugh-out-loud delight for readers of any age.

Call the library at 743-6994 or email paris.public.library@MSLN.net for more information.

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