Three Things About Elsie
84-year-old Florence has fallen in her flat at Cherry Tree Home for the Elderly.
As she waits to be rescued, she considers the charming new resident who looks exactly like a man she once knew – a man who died sixty years ago.
His arrival has stirred distant memories she and Elsie thought they’d laid to rest.
Lying prone in the front room, Florence wonders if a terrible secret from her past is about to come to light…
One of The Reading Agency Books of the Year 2018
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Reader Reviews
Anonymous
13 August 2019
The central character, Florence, is an 84 year old woman who has a flat in a sheltered accommodation complex. She lives in constant fear of being diagnosed with dementia and being moved to a nearby care home. Things start to go wrong for her when a shady character from her past becomes her latest neighbour.
Joanna Cannon’s skillful writing gives the reader an insight into Florence’s mind, sharing in her confusion and anxiety. Cannon’s accurate observations of dementia sufferers have resulted in a beautifully sensitive book, which kept me guessing as to what was fact and what was the fantasies of Florence’s mind, right until the very end.
Anonymous
20 March 2024
St Just Thursday Evening Reading Group 1st February 2024.
Three Things about Elsie. Joanna Cannon.
This book was appreciated (‘liked’ not being quite the right word) by the whole group, and it gave rise to a lot of discussion. A few people found it hard to get into, or had a problem in the middle, but finished it just the same; and it was generally agreed that we liked the author’s writing style: a lot of good one-liners, and ‘shot through with whimsy and wise words’. Comparisons were made with Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club, Emma Healey’s Elizabeth is Missing, and one of Alan Bennett’s ‘Talking Heads’ series.
We talked about the plot of the book, which is quite complicated. Readers guessed with varying degrees of speediness about Elsie’s presence being imaginary to Florence. Though potentially depressing and undoubtedly sad, even horrific in parts (the dreadful threat of Greenbank hanging over the residents should their mental faculties fail them), there is a lot of humour in this book, we thought.
The discussion ranged over various topics: when looking after elderly residents, those who are competent and those who are not isn’t always immediately obvious, and this may apply to the carers as well as those looked after. We talked about care homes we had visited and how good or bad they were, and concluded that this largely depends upon the staff. The testing for dementia was considered, as per the example in this book, and we wondered whether failing such a test proves that the candidate really does have dementia, or that they aren’t very observant or very good at mental arithmetic under pressure.
This was quite a thought-provoking book, raising questions about the end of life, what happens to people when they die and just beforehand, and what happens to their friends and carers too.