The Old Man and the Girl

Summertime, and the living is easy. So said George Gershwin, but he wasn’t having the kind of summer that faced Jacob James Fortescue. The sun is high, the birds are singing and Mr Fortescue, grumpy at the best of times, has just been diagnosed with a brain tumour. His mood isn’t improved when his driving licence is seized, and his long-awaited road trip in a brand-new camper van must be postponed.Undeterred, he advertises for a driver and the ensuing events and circumstances, way beyond his control, propel him through a series of hilarious misadventures with a young woman escaping a violent relationship. A strange and endearing companionship emerges between the two characters, who on the face of it, are wholly unsuited to be in the same room together.Read more