Joanna Cannon's previous (and debut) novel was 'The Trouble with Goats and Sheep' which I absolutely loved, so I was looking forward to reading this next book.
Florence (Flo only to her friends) resides in the Cherry Tree retirement complex. She lives alone in a ground floor flat, but she's never lonely as she has her best friend Elsie to keep her company. Elsie also helps Flo through her moments of forgetfulness and confusion. They team up with fellow resident Jack when Flo realises that a new resident is someone from the past she'd thought she'd never see again. With the manager of Cherry Tree threatening to move Flo to 'Greenbanks' - a more suitable home for her needs - Flo and her two friends have a race against time to solve the mystery of the new resident before Flo may be forced to leave.
This quirky second book does not disappoint. It has Joanna's same style of humour mixed with pathos with an underlying serious storyline. All the characters are realistic and rather adorable. But it's also very moving, knowing that most of us will end up being a Florence, frustrated at realising that we're slowly losing our faculties, and there is only one ending for us all.
A delight to read.
(Review by Megan :D)
Cosmo is a teenage boy who desperately wants to try to save his Grandad from Alzheimer's, but things aren't looking too good. But one night, his Grandad gives him a mysterious key, that he says will unlock the South Gates of Blackbrick Abbey. Confused but curious, Cosmo ventures out to Blackbrick, and finds a time portal that goes all the way back to when his Grandad was 16, working as a slave at Blackbrick! Seeing the chance to get his Grandad's memory back, Cosmo stays at Blackbrick to find out some answers. He makes new friends and solves puzzles, then disaster strikes! Will things turn out all right for Cosmo and Grandad Kevin in the end?
I love the way Sarah writes this book: it's funny, mysterious, sad and clever and makes you never want to put it down! Time travel allways fascinates me, and this book uses it brilliantly! I would recommend this novel to 12+/13+ due to some bad language and other features.
A great book to me, 5 stars!
The Forever Whale
by Sarah Lean
Hannah's granddad has Alzheimer's. Before it got too bad, he had taken Hannah out in his rowing boat, like he regularly did, and promised to tell her a story about meeting her grandma, some deer, and a whale. But then the illness took hold and he was moved into a home, and his eyes became empty - along with his memory. Hannah is determined to find out what granddad wanted to tell her. She decides to visit a local island which he often talked about, and film anything she can see, in the hope that this will jog his memory, and she can have her old granddad back. What she finds stirs up memories - and a few surprises - for everybody.
This is a beautiful story which I finished in one sitting. If you like this, also try Michael Morpurgo's Why the Whales Came.
Sarah Lean has also written two other wonderful stories - A Dog Called Homeless, and A Horse for Angel.
