Old Rage: 'One of our best-loved actor's powerful riposte to a world driving her mad’ - DAILY MAIL

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When Sheila went to the hospital the next day her ninety three Aunt Billie quietly had let go of her grasp on 18th December. Sheila remembered she had spent the most happiest days of her childhood in her Auntie Bill and Uncle Roy’s minuscule flat on the Rue d’Amsterdam. The much-loved actor candidly shares the fear, joy and frustration she has found in her ninth decade' - Guardian, Books of the Year 2022 Home alone, classified as 'extremely vulnerable', she finds herself yelling at the TV and talking to the pigeons. But she can at least take a good long look at life – her work and family, her beliefs (many of them the legacy of her wartime childhood) and, uncomfortable as it might be to face, her future. I realised that maybe I wasn’t as much of a wordsmith as I thought I was, as she uses a lot of words that I didn���t understand and had to look up, so prepare yourself for feeling like an English language novice.

Loveable and forthright character that she is, Sheila lays it on the line and it’s all from the heart, which is why her prose is passionate and interesting. The fact that I agree with her sentiments adds to my pleasure here. As Billie was in a ward of her own Sheila sat with Billie day and night singing to her and saying a childhood prayer to her, one that I truly loved, that was one my favourite parts in the book for loving the prayer.I am a fan of Sheila’s work, and the work of her late husband John Thaw, and she’s always been a presence on British screens, so I was excited to read this. She doesn’t shy away from telling her own opinions and that’s missing in todays world when everyone is so scared of saying the wrong thing. In December 2017 in the Diary entry Sheila’s Aunt Billie had been moved into a hospital and was apparently fading fast. Billie had fought hard to stay in her flat after her fall.

Old Rage would probably make a better audiobook than a physical book. It is an outpouring…sometimes a rant, sometimes a reminisce, fuelled by emotions and memories..I could hear Sheila’s voice throughout and I would love to hear her actually reading this.. Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review. Home alone, classified as 'extremely vulnerable', she finds herself yelling at the TV and talking to the pigeons. But she can at least take a good long look at life - her work and family, her beliefs (many of them the legacy of her wartime childhood) and, uncomfortable as it might be to face, her future. It’s true that her many tirades are rooted less in cantankerousness than a loathing of perceived injustices. While there is plenty of fury in Old Rage, there is also humanity and heart. In my opinion, I did feel there was too much ranting about politics and Brexit for my taste, but it’s clearly a passionate topic for her. I would have preferred more about her as a person and her life and career, but maybe she’s done that in her previous books. It’s very much a rambling, like we’re being invited into her world for a chat.A gloriously irreverent memoir from the frontline of old age - by the Sunday Times-bestselling author and legendary actor