Arrivederci

After losing the great love of her life, it’s time for Iris to love what’s left of life itself … A charming book about life, death and the precious moments in between.

Following the death of her husband, 94-year-old matriarch Iris Scholl makes a radical decision. Blessed with both sound body and mind, she is avowedly against the idea of shuffling off quietly, especially stuck in a nursing home. Instead, she announces to her family that she will be seeing out her days on the isle of Capri, where she spent some of the happiest times of her life.

Iris has never booked a flight, used an iPhone or even sent an email. She hasn’t spoken Italian fluently since the Whitlam years. But she is wily, hilarious and headstrong, eventually winning over everyone from her long-time doctor to her cynical children as they help her prepare for life as a solo nonagenarian expat.

Flanked by her favourite grandson and the inconvenient ghost of her husband, Iris is about to embark on her last great odyssey.