How to Age Disgracefully

Daphne is one of the four protagonists and point-of-view characters in the novel, and she is one of the main instigators of the plot. The action of the book begins with Daphne deciding to reach out and return to the world. She then plays a key role in settling the challenges and obstacles that confront the other main characters.

Daphne, turning 70 when the story opens, is feisty and outspoken, but she guards the secrets of her past and her previous life as Deliliah Jones. The reader is first introduced to Daphne’s judgmental attitude through the way Daphne enjoys spying on her neighbors through a local website, OurNeighbours.com. Daphne’s occasional incomprehension of modern slang—what it means when someone calls another “a Karen,” for instance (10), or calling someone “the bomb”—offers humor as well as a reminder that Daphne has lived in virtual isolation for 15 years.

Daphne has been hiding not only from the police but also from retribution by friends of her husband, Jack Jones, a famous thief and leader of the criminal underworld. Daphne has lived alone in her splendid apartment with her expensive art, luxurious clothing, stolen jewelry, and photographs from her former life to keep her company.