Last Resort. Dieser Artikel ist nicht verfügbar.Last Resort

Failed union demagogue and cash-strapped council boss Arnie Ratledge sees a way back up the national political ladder by ‘exporting’ a Lancashire town’s financially draining care-home folk to specially converted, cut-price Thai resorts. It’s greeted as a revolutionary concept that could solve the entire demographic and economic nightmare the elderly pose in the West.

But widespread initial enthusiasm wavers as sex-related deaths thin the ranks and darker agendas are suspected. Maurice Jones’s darkly humorous debut novel will strike a chord with all generations for one chief reason: what’s suggested might actually happen.

Praise for Last Resort

'Brilliantly original, laugh-out-loud funny, it's a must read.' The Sun

‘With lashings of humour and great originality, Maurice Jones has got across one of the most challenging messages of our time: the old are not fodder for a throwaway society’s ever-expanding scrapheap, but people in a different phase of life whose capacity for fun is not dead; just dormant, waiting for the right spark.

‘To get the best out of this new quirky read, you need to approach it tongue firmly in cheek – for this is a cheeky book that translates novel ideas into the world of tomorrow. It is best appreciated by thinking, “this might actually happen!” – although I would not necessarily recommend it does!

‘We may well have a new Tom Sharpe here.’

RT Hon David Blunkett MP

‘The timing of this book could not be better. Society’s gone to cock! Grandads, grandmas all shoved into care homes. It’s an awful business. Thailand is supposed to be the land of smiles. What goes on underneath might be another thing … but it’s certainly all smiles on top!’ June Brown (Dot Cotton, EastEnders)

‘After reading this, no more fear. We’ve all got the green light to grow old disgracefully, and when your time’s up, go with a huge smile on your face – like this book gave me.’ Jon Wise, The People

‘What a truly fascinating and original idea … A damaged, crackpot local politician has a radical new plan to deal with our elderly care problem. Imagine a dark and anarchical The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.’ Carmen Reid, Author

Maurice Jones, 67, is an award-winning journalist who first shot to infamy in 1977 with the shortest defection in history: three and a half weeks in East Germany, en route to the Soviet Union. Jones spent 12 years working for the National Union of Mineworkers, including the tumultuous year of the 1984-85 strike when he edited the NUM paper, The Miner. In 1991, two years after leaving the NUM, Jones won the coveted Newspaper Society Yorkshire Journalist of the Year award. Jones, whose formal education ended at 15 when he joined the Merchant Navy, is a rarity among writers: a self-taught man who overcame huge personal obstacles to write this, his first novel, at a time when most people seek a quiet retirement. A private pilot for over 20 years, he currently lives in Lancashire and spends part of the year on a small island in Finland, where he does much of his writing. Jones has been married to his Finnish wife, Leena, for over 40 years. They have one daughter. Follow Maurice Jones on Twitter: @1MauriceJones