Three Things About Elsie
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- ¥600
発行者による作品情報
The Sunday Times Bestseller
‘Lovely, lovely, lovely… Sue Townsend meets Kate Atkinson meets Nina Stibbe’ MARIAN KEYES
‘Powerful and profound’ Guardian
‘Another sure-fire hit’ Daily Mail
‘Funny, melancholy, acutely observant’ Sunday Express
‘Cannon is so attuned to other people’s stories… a chronicler both of the human condition and the quotidian details which speak to who we are’ Guardian
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 …
Reviews
Praise for Three Things About Elsie:
‘Compassionate, thoughtful and tender, it is a novel exploring the pain of nostalgia and personal truths so painful we hide them even from ourselves’ HANNAH BECKERMAN, Observer
‘A tale of ordinary lives and buried secrets … a well-written, entertaining, effortless read with some arresting insights’ Mail on Sunday
‘Charming, wise and profoundly human. I lived every page of this book’ ERIN KELLY
‘Powerful and profound’ Guardian
‘Irresistibly good-hearted … captivating’ Telegraph
‘Another sure-fire hit for Cannon … abounds with Alan Bennett-esque humour, as well as heart-wrenching sadness’ Daily Mail
‘Emotional, sweet, funny, hauntingly sad and poignant. I loved it’ DJ Sara Cox, Stella
‘Funny, melancholy, acutely observant … your heart will finally crack in two on the last page’ Sunday Express
‘A warm, wise novel – brilliantly entertaining – that also manages to be a timely and profound take on ageing. I loved it’ KATE HAMER
‘Light yet heartbreaking, a joy to read’ i Newspaper
‘Funny, touching, and peppered with astute observations … a future classic’ CLARE MACKINTOSH, author of I Let You Go
‘[Cannon] conveys the legion indignities of overlooked old age with touching perception’ Sunday Times Culture
‘A moving, bittersweet story’ Good Housekeeping
‘Cannon is on her way to becoming a national treasure – no one does quirky, funny and soul-searing the way she does’ Emerald Street
‘Poignant, witty and original’ Woman & Home
‘More brilliant, generous storytelling… (a) funny, melancholic tale’ Psychologies
About the author
Joanna Cannon graduated from Leicester Medical School and worked as a hospital doctor, before specialising in psychiatry. Her first novel The Trouble With Goats and Sheep was a top ten bestseller in both hardback and paperback and was a Richard and Judy pick. She lives in the Peak District with her family and her dog.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The unreliable narrator of Cannon's amusing and heartbreaking novel (following The Trouble with Goats and Sheep) spends most of the story lying in a heap on the floor of her apartment at the Cherry Tree "sheltered accommodation" for the elderly, reviewing her life. Florence, 84 and opinionated, is beginning to wonder whether she can trust her senses. First, she notices that somebody appears to moving small objects in her apartment; then, she recognizes a new resident, and realizes to her horror that he is somebody she is sure died in 1953. Fortunately, Florence has as her companion her best friend from childhood onward, Elsie, who helps her solve these mysteries and always knows what to say to make her feel better. Florence's acerbic and sometimes troubled voice is the main narration, though the perspective sometimes shifts to those of well-meaning administrator Miss Ambrose and dogged, socially awkward handyman Simon. While readers are likely to guess the mysterious "third thing" about Elsie early on, and the book's shocks depend on some unlikely coincidences, Cannon makes her protagonist sympathetic and touches lightly on how easy it is to make false assumptions about the elderly. Readers may come for the mystery, but they'll stay to spend time with Florence.
