The Night in Question
A Novel
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A lyrical and emotionally engaging novel infused with mystery and wisdom about love, friendship, and the power of forgiveness.
Florrie Butterfield—eighty-seven, one-legged, and of cheerful disposition—believes there can't be any more adventures or surprises in life to experience. Yet one midsummer’s evening, there’s an accident at Babbington Hall—the adult residence where she lives—so shocking and strange that Florrie is suspicious; is this really an accident? Or is she being lied to? Is she, in fact, living alongside a potential murderer? In her efforts to learn the truth, Florrie is forced to look back on her own life, with all its passions and regrets; she must confront her own bloody secret—and, at last, forgive herself. Above all, Florrie learns, through the help of her new friend, Stanhope, that you’re never too old to have the life you’ve always dreamed of. When it comes to love, it’s never too late.
Readers of moving fiction about late-in-life second chances such as Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove and Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry will love this un-putdownable book.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fletcher (House of Glass) expertly intertwines two mysteries in this eloquent and astute tale set in a British assisted living facility. The first mystery concerns Renata Green, manager of Babbington Hall, a retirement residence in the Oxfordshire countryside. Renata's fall from her office window is witnessed by 87-year-old Florrie Butterfield, who roams the facility's grounds in her wheelchair and is "as deaf as a saucepan without her hearing aids." Residents suspect Renata jumped in a suicide attempt that has left her comatose, but Florrie, who chatted with Renata earlier in the day and found her to be uncharacteristically cheery and outgoing, believes she was murdered. Following that hunch, the octogenarian sets about investigating with the help of fellow resident and former schoolteacher Stanhope Jones. As they gather clues, Fletcher lights the fuse on the second mystery: who is Florrie, anyway? What's behind the terrible secret she has trouble even thinking about in private? And what might she learn about forgiveness from her sleuthing with Stanhope? Fletcher points those questions in poignant directions, providing her unforgettable protagonist with resonant lessons about mending the past, all while maintaining satisfying tension in the central whodunit. This gloriously uplifting mystery will stay with readers long after they've turned the final page.
