There are many books that depict the permutations of growing older

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Reading lists

The best books that celebrate old age

bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Heartbreak Hotel

From the bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Tulip Fever, Heartbreak Hotel is now re-jacketed along with the rest of Deborah Moggach's books in gorgeous series style

Another hilarious and heart-warming tale from the author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

This warm, funny and generous romp of a novel is a delight

Just as exuberant and hilarious as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

An addictive and funny novel: if there is a book more like a Richard Curtis film, you’d be hard-pressed to find it

A hilarious romp that showcases Moggach’s loving understanding of human foibles and which you will finish reading feeling a whole lot better about yourself

This is a comic performance so footsure it almost tap-dances

Moggach’s glorious sense of humour, the ease with which she inhabits her characters and her affections for them are apparent on every page. No wonder this astute and funny exploration of love and longing is being adapted for television

Perceptive, engaging and at times laugh-out-loud funny, Moggach writes with a sharp wit to create a very readable narrative

The author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel repeats her earlier recipe by setting loose a group of quirky characters in a run-down hotel, this time in the fictional Knockton in Wales

[Moggach] is witty, on the button when it comes to the state of the nation and, above all, heroically generous with the warmth she dispenses. It’s a real skill to do this without descending into sickliness. Perfect for easing into autumn

There's a generous warmth to Moggach's characterisation. She has plenty of fun with Buffy's slightly hammy cast in what is essentially a well spun comic yarn, probing personal foibles and ill-advised attachments (including Buffy's own chaotic amorous history) for the gentle edification of all. The result is an affable, up­beat entertainment with plenty of wit and humour

Another hilarious book from the author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel... A great summer read

Deborah Moggach is the author of many successful novels including Tulip Fever and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which was made into a top-grossing film starring Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith. Her screenplays include the film of Pride and Prejudice, which was nominated for a BAFTA. She lives in Wales.

From Deborah Moggach, bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, comes another hilarious and romantic comedy, this time set in a run-down B&amp;B in Wales… 
 
When retired actor Buffy decides to up sticks from London and move to rural Wales, he has no idea what he is letting himself in for. 
 
In possession of a run-down B&amp;B that leans more towards the shabby than the chic and is miles from nowhere, he realises he needs to fill the beds – and fast. 
 
Enter a motley collection of guests: Harold, whose wife has run off with a younger woman; Amy, who’s been unexpectedly dumped by her (not-so) weedy boyfriend and Andy, the hypochondriac postman whose girlfriend is much too much for him to handle. 
 
But under Buffy’s watchful eye, this disparate group of strangers find they have more in common than perhaps they first thought... 
 
‘Addictive and funny... If there is a book more like a Richard Curtis film, you’d be hard-pressed to find it’ Psychologies 
 
'Just as exuberant and hilarious as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' Good Housekeeping

The classic feel-good Sunday Times Bestselling novel

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

The smash-hit bestseller The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is now re-jacketed along with the rest of Deborah Moggach’s books in gorgeous series style

Discover the Sunday Times bestselling novel that inspired the beloved hit film starring Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Celia Imrie, Dev Patel and Penelope Wilton. 
 
Enticed by advertisements for a luxury retirement home in India, a group of strangers leave England to begin a new life. 
 
On arrival, however, they discover the palace is a shell of its former self, the staff are more than a little eccentric and the days of the Raj appear to be long gone. 
 
But, as they soon discover, life and love can begin again, even in the most unexpected circumstances. 
 
Previously published with the title These Foolish Things. 
 
'A glorious romp that will inspire roars of recognition' Sunday Express

Superb... Moggach has served us a treat with this novel. Moving, sincere, funny

A glorious romp that will inspire roars of recognition

Discover the Sunday Times bestselling novel that inspired the beloved film. 
 
 The book that inspired the box office hit The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel starring Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Celia Imrie, Dev Patel and Penelope Wilton 
 
Enticed by advertisements for a luxury retirement home in India, a group of strangers leave England to begin a new life. 
 
On arrival, however, they discover the palace is a shell of its former self, the staff are more than a little eccentric and the days of the Raj appear to be long gone. 
 
But, as they soon discover, life and love can begin again, even in the most unexpected circumstances. 
 
Previously published with the title These Foolish Things

Something to Hide

The bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Tulip Fever is back with a warm, witty and wise novel about the unexpected twists that later life can bring …

This is a great read, full of humour, insight and exotic foreign flavour

This is an absorbing read, with surprises and moments of tension that make it a genuine page-turner

Pulling the reader along on a fast-paced transcontinental journey, Something to Hide is engaging, poignant and prompts snorts of laughter

An unpredictable tale of love loss and deception

A skillful and genuinely moving page-tuner with plenty of surprises

A poignant story of the secrets and deceptions that lie at the heart of every relationship

This is classic Moggach: readable, memorable and eminently filmable

a gentle, easy-reading tale of happenstance and second chances

[A] sprightly tale… [With] a lightness of touch

Funny and touching with a fast-moving plot – the perfect Summer read.

The bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Tulip Fever is back with a warm, witty and wise novel about the unexpected twists that later life can bring… 
 
‘Nobody in the world knows our secret ... that I’ve ruined Bev’s life, and she’s ruined mine.’ 
 
Petra’s love life is a bit of a car-crash, even in her sixties. But then she falls for Jeremy, an old chum, visiting from abroad. The catch? Jeremy is her best friend’s husband. 
 
And just as Petra is beginning to relax guiltily into her happy ever after, she finds herself catapulted to West Africa, and to Bev, her best friend who she’s been betraying so spectacularly. 
 
It turns out that no matter where you are in the world, everyone has something to hide. Can Bev – can anyone – be trusted?

Close Relations

‘A witty and intelligent tale about the terrifying, seductive lie of stability – emotional, physical, financial, sexual’ Mail on Sunday 
 
Gordon Hammond, sixty-five, a builder who has built up his own, modestly successful business, has a heart attack. Whilst recovering in hospital he falls in love with April, a young black nurse, and leaves Dorothy, his wife of 45 years to set up home with her. 
 
Dorothy is released like a loose cannon into the lives of her three daughters and chaos ensues. More relationships break up, passions run high and dramatic developments ensue that will change the Hammond family forever.

Bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

The Ex-Wives

From the bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel this is a funny and warm novel for anyone who has ever been curious about their partner’s past…

You’ll be hooked from the first page of this original, funny book… Just delicious

The Ex-Wives marries comedy and canniness into a novel that’s warm, tolerant, shrewd and exuberant

Cracking good dialogue, excellent jokes and laser sharp

Deborah Moggach is brilliant at capturing just the right voice for her characters

Discover this funny and warm novel for anyone who has ever been curious about their partner's past from the bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 
 
 Meet Buffy. 
 
 With three ex-wives, a failing career and only his dog George for company, Buffy's bachelorhood is looking worryingly confirmed. 
 
 Until he meets Celeste. 
 
 Dazzled by love, Buffy has no idea that Celeste is systematically researching his ex-wives, children and step-children, and unearthing secrets that will change all their lives... 
 
 'Wonderfully funny' Daily Mail 
 
 'Marries comedy and canniness into a novel that's warm, tolerant, shrewd and exuberant' Sunday Times

Christmas at Heartbreak Hotel

Twin Beds

An exclusive-to-ebook Christmas story from bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, featuring the loveable cast of her bestselling comic novel Heartbreak Hotel

Christmas should be a joyous occasion filled with peace and love, but the looming prospect of the festive season fills Russell ‘Buffy’ Buffery with dread. Retired actor, thrice divorced, hapless father – Buffy is well versed in the complicated family Christmas, shuffling between exes and children. 
 
Except this year will be different. He has inherited a B&amp;B in rural Wales, and can finally escape the nearest and dearest, and play ‘Myne Host’ to a group of paper-hatted strangers, on escape-routes from their own clans. But when the strangers check in with their emotional baggage, and the Cab Sav begins to flow, Buffy soon realises that Christmas is never without its little complications… 
 
Join the gang at Heartbreak Hotel as they run riot, and celebrate Christmas the Buffy way.

Deborah Moggach

A story of love, deceit, changelings, and mistaken identity worthy of a Restoration dramatist

A sumptuous and enthralling novel about art, love, illusion and money...with the denouement of a classic

A byzantine plot that hurtles towards disaster, while retaining the polished veneer of a Dutch interior

Clever, spry and sad in equal measure...a pacy plot whose twists and shifts of viewpoint make for much anxious page-turning

A scintillating story of lust, deception and retribution

Beautifully written...with a featherlight touch, Moggach keeps the tension at fever-pitch until the final hilarious – and entirely unexpected – climax

'A gorgeous novel' Mail on Sunday 
 
From the bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel comes a thrilling story of power, lust and deception... 
 
Seventeenth-century Amsterdam - a city in the grip of tulip fever. 
 
Sophia's husband Cornelis is one of the lucky ones grown rich from this exotic new flower. To celebrate, he commissions a talented young artist to paint him with his beautiful bride. But as the portrait grows, so does the passion between Sophia and the painter; and ambitions, desires and dreams breed an intricate deception and a reckless gamble. 
 
Now a major film starring Oscar winners Dame Judi Dench, Alicia Vikander and Christoph Waltz and adapted for the screen by Sir Tom Stoppard.

Deborah Moggach

Praise for Tulip Fever

A story of love, deceit, changelings, and mistaken identity worthy of a Restoration dramatist

A sumptuous and enthralling novel about art, love, illusion and money...with the denouement of a classic

A byzantine plot that hurtles towards disaster, while retaining the polished veneer of a Dutch interior

A story of love, deceit, changelings, and mistaken identity worthy of a Restoration dramatist

A sumptuous and enthralling novel about art, love, illusion and money...with the denouement of a classic

A byzantine plot that hurtles towards disaster, while retaining the polished veneer of a Dutch interior

A story of love, deceit, changelings, and mistaken identity worthy of a Restoration dramatist

A sumptuous and enthralling novel about art, love, illusion and money...with the denouement of a classic

A byzantine plot that hurtles towards disaster, while retaining the polished veneer of a Dutch interior

Books by Deborah Moggach

Articles featuring Deborah Moggach

The best books that celebrate old age

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