Florence Claybourne’s residency at the Cherry Tree Accommodation for the Elderly has been ticking along nicely. She has her own flat, and her lifelong friend, Elsie, for company. But now there are problems. Her memory is not so good and sometimes her thoughts come straight out of her mouth when they would be better to stay in her head. She is due an assessment that could mean goodbye to cheery Cherry Tree and hello to grim Greenbank, where those needing higher levels of support are, in Florence’s view, incarcerated.
To top it all, a new resident has arrived, who calls himself Gabriel Price. But Florence knows that is not his real name; he is Ronnie Butler, a man dead sixty years. She recognizes him, recognizes the scar she gave him, recognizes the man she saw drown in the canal.
Gabriel / Ronnie shows no sign of recognizing Florence, but as evidence of her own erratic behaviour begins to mount – a lost book turning up in the fridge, her kitchen cupboard full of Battenburg cakes, an iron left dangerously on – she knows he is behind it all somehow.
Florence and Elsie recruit fellow resident, Jack, whose son acts as taxi driver, to help investigate Gabriel Price and prove he is really Ronnie Butler. Ronnie Butler who, by drowning in the canal left unanswered questions concerning the violent death, that same night, of Elsie’s sister Beryl.
The story unfolds in three time frames. In the here and now, Florence is lying prone on the floor of her flat, hoping someone will find her before it is too late. While there, she relates the events of the last month and the investigation into Gabriel Price. Assistant manager, Miss Ambrose, and handyman, Simon, also contribute to that narrative. Her thoughts also drift back to the distant past, to the night Beryl died, and Ronnie ended up in the canal.
Relationships within
the closed world of Cherry Tree are well portrayed, and sub-plots involving minor
characters provide pleasurable diversions. And those three things about Elsie? Read,
discover, enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment