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Three Things About Elsie: A Novel Paperback – Unabridged, July 2, 2019

by Joanna Cannon (Author)

4.1 6,967 ratings

Editors' pick Best Literature & Fiction

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The bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep delivers a suspenseful and emotionally satisfying novel “infused with warmth and humor” (People) about a lifelong friendship, a devastating secret, and the small acts of kindness that bring people together.

There are three things you should know about Elsie. The first thing is that she’s my best friend. The second is that she always knows what to say to make me feel better. And the third thing…might take a bit more explaining.

Eighty-four-year-old Florence has fallen in her flat at Cherry Tree Home for the Elderly. As she waits to be rescued, she thinks about her friend Elsie and wonders if a terrible secret from their past is about to come to light. If the charming new resident is who he claims to be, why does he look exactly like a man who died sixty years ago?

From the acclaimed, bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, Three Things About Elsie “breathes with suspense, providing along the way piercing, poetic descriptions, countless tiny mysteries, and breathtaking little reveals…a rich portrait of old age and friendship stretched over a fascinating frame” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). This is an “amusing and heartbreaking” (Publishers Weekly) story about forever friends on the twisting path of life who come to understand how the fine threads of humanity connect us all.

Print length

400 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Scribner
Publication date

July 2, 2019
Dimensions

5.25 x 0.8 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

1501187392
ISBN-13

978-1501187391
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Get to know this book

What's it about?
A suspenseful and emotionally satisfying novel about a lifelong friendship, a devastating secret, and the small acts of kindness that bring people together.
Popular highlight
“No matter how long or how short a time you are here, the world is ever so slightly different because you existed. Although I’m not sure how anyone can ever prove it.”
185 Kindle readers highlighted this
Popular highlight
It’s strange, because you can put up with all manner of nonsense in your life, all sorts of sadness, and you manage to keep everything on board and march through it, then someone is kind to you and it’s the kindness that makes you cry. It’s the tiny act of goodness that opens a door somewhere and lets all the misery escape.
184 Kindle readers highlighted this
Popular highlight
It makes you wonder if you did have a purpose, but it floated past you one day, and you just didn’t think to flag it down.
164 Kindle readers highlighted this

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Breathes with suspense, providing along the way piercing, poetic descriptions, countless tiny mysteries, and breathtaking little reveals… a rich portrait of old age and friendship stretched over a fascinating frame.”
—Kirkus (starred review)

“A tender and charismatic look into life in a nursing home. Cannon effortlessly captures the home’s slow routines, along with the ways that staff and residents coexist but often know little about each other . . . This heartfelt tale of friendship and aging explores letting go of the past in order to live fully in the present.”
—Booklist

“Amusing and heartbreaking.”
—Publishers Weekly

“A heartwarming meditation on friendship and the way people we love shape us for the rest of our days.”
—Bookpage

"A wonderful and entertaining feel-good story."
—HelloGiggles

“Cannon’s tale is infused with warmth and humor.”
—People Magazine

"Florence attempts to unravel a mystery in this blend of crime thriller, character study, and treatise on the nature of memory."
—Harper's Bazaar

About the Author

Joanna Cannon is a psychiatrist with a degree from Leicester Medical School. She lives in England’s Peak District with her family and her dog. She is the author of Three Things About Elsie and The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, a top ten bestseller in the UK.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scribner; Unabridged edition (July 2, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1501187392
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1501187391
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.8 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #974,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #20,546 in Contemporary Women Fiction
- #43,384 in Suspense Thrillers
- #45,282 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.1 6,967 ratings

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Joanna Cannon

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Joanna Cannon graduated from Leicester Medical School and worked as a hospital doctor, before specialising in psychiatry. Her novels, The Trouble With Goats and Sheep and Three Things About Elsie, were both Sunday Times bestsellers and Richard and Judy picks. Her new novel, A Tidy Ending, was published in April 2022. She lives in the Peak District with her dog, Lewis.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5

6,967 global ratings

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JanetL621

Extraordinary

Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2023

Verified Purchase

I was earlier going to say that this book was completely engrossing while being a bit depressing. Now I've finished, I've changed my mind. This was a marvelous book and written with such skill. The author gives us a story of an elderly woman who is suffering from dementia and is confronted with someone from her past she thinks has been dead for many years, who has just moved into the care home she lives in. As the story gently unfolds, the author just drizzles out facts and parts of the story, drop by drop. As much as we want to believe Florence, we have to remember she has memory issues. Is what she's seeing, feeling and remembering real? Now that I've come to the end, I'm still not sure. I have a desire to go back and read it all over again. At the end, Florence realizes her life counted for something and she has had an extraordinary life. I copied this quote from the book into my journal: "Perhaps the most important moments of all turn out to be the ones we walk through without thinking, the ones we mark down as just another day. Just another day we have to get through before something more interesting comes along. We benchmark our lives with birthdays and Christmases and holidays, but perhaps we should think more about the ordinary days. The days which pass by and we don’t even notice. Elsie once said that you can’t tell how big a moment is until you turn back and look at it, and I think, perhaps, that she was right." Beautiful.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

My Kingdom for a Horse

An extraordinarily insightful, compassionate book

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2019

Verified Purchase

With Three Thing About Elsie, author Joanna Cannon presents her characters and their stories with caring and kindness, as well as an eye for noticing those who often seem invisible. In this case, that means the elderly, and the book takes a gentle look at the way lives change and worlds sometimes shrink when the years ahead are fewer than those behind.

This book focuses on unraveling a new mystery by struggling to remember the past, while at the same time being an exploration of growing old while wrestling with unreliable memories and clinging to love and friendship. Through Florence, the main character who holds close three things about her friend, Elsie, we see how life changes in later years as she grapples with a fading memory and adjusting to life at a home for the elderly.

Lives can disappear so quickly sometimes once they end – we all hope to be remembered, to leave some small mark on the world, but aren't sure we will. Florence thinks about this question a lot, wondering: "When I look back, I have led quite an ordinary life. I sometimes wonder what the point of me was."

By the end of the book, hopefully you'll see what the point of her was, what the point of everyone is. An ordinary life often leaves more of an extraordinary mark on the world than we realize. Surely it's true that "No matter how long or how short a time you are here, the world is ever so slightly different because you existed."

20 people found this helpful

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gwinnlp95

Interesting and funny

Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2020

Verified Purchase

This novel has an interesting plot with a hint of crime solving. You can identify with some of the characters. It kind of calls apart in the final chapters as if there was a publisher deadline to meet.

3 people found this helpful

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Sandra Waters customer

Brilliant Character Depiction

Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2018

Verified Purchase

JoannaCannon is a psychiatrist and has the ability to understand the inner self of people. She wrote in her acknowledgement that the experiences she had with her patients have changed her life and that their memories are a part of her. Consequently, she has written another fine book. Maybe it is my favorite. She has made the characters endearing and it is filled with tenderness. Dementia is something we know of and having volunteered in a nursing home I have seen some of the beauty in patients, so this book really moved me. With its intriguing story, poetic descriptions and surprise ending, I devoured the book. I hope readers can appreciate her depiction of characters whom she has honored. It is very carefully woven, so remember the details. This was a very moving book. It is not often one gets to read a novel with such a poignant insight into people. I look forward to her third book. I can not think of any negatives.

23 people found this helpful

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kitico53_64311

wow

Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2021

Verified Purchase

What difficult subject to tackle and what a wonderful job the author does! I was totally drawn into the story, captivated by the characters, and intent on the next plot twist. So impressed with this author.

2 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer Sharon Tripp

Beautiful.

Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2022

Verified Purchase

Finally, a book we older people can relate to. Having said that, if you aren't older and are reading this review prior to reading this book, do not let it stop you. This is a delightful book and and the very best kind of mystery with more than one surprise ending. Some of the characters who seem one dimensional on the surface, are oh so much more. Poignant, funny and delightful.
When I was young, I worried about dying, now I am old, I worry about ending up in the "home", certainly not there yet , but if I must, I hope there is a Jack there.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

kate Cleveland

It is a story that takes place in a nursing home. Not very flattering to the elderly.

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2021

Verified Purchase

I couldn’t find a reason why I was reading this book. It is a book club choice and I am over half way through it and I might not waste any more time reading

BIG WAIT to get it. I ordered it June 20. It came from a contact through Amazon. It arrived to my home July 8. Why did it take so long? And beside that, though pretty well written, it meanders.
I know some mail is slow but this is unforgivable. 18 days to get to my home which is in the middle of America. Amazon, what happened here?

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

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Fedeli

Stupendo

Reviewed in Italy on April 6, 2019

Verified Purchase

Letto d’un fiato. Una storia profonda ma raccontata con ironia che non annoia ma appassiona ogni pagina. Per niente scontato.

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sneha

Must read book

Reviewed in India on March 17, 2019

Verified Purchase

A good book after long time.such intense characters

carol

One of the best novels I have ever read

Reviewed in Spain on November 29, 2018

Verified Purchase

A beautiful story; very sad but also very funny at times. It has elements of a detective story too.

Athena53

Three things about this book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 3, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is a truly remarkable book.
Firstly the writing is a joy to read - it is lyrical and almost poetical. It flows smoothly and quickly but is written with supreme skill and expertise. There is huge tact in relation to the elderly characters suffering from the ravages of old age
and the crippling effects of dementia; but there is also real humour and pathos. JC uses original
descriptions of small and insignificant events that make them important to the characters and to the
reader ‘ clouds of white thinking drifted across the courtyard’ and ‘the gravestones waited in rows
and watched Marks and Spencer through a gap between a bank and a building society'. I particularly
like her use of anthropomorphisms ‘windscreen wipers shouted out in frustration as they ran out of
things to wipe’ , ‘ the smells knit themselves into the walls and swing from the curtains’ , and ‘ it
stretched across the window. It crept from behind the violin cases and made a lake of crotchets and
quavers on the floor...’
Secondly the plot is a masterpiece. It twists and turns and just when you think you have a handle on
it, it slips away into something else – pretty much as Florence’s thoughts and memories do. The
writing moves between Flo's initially muddled memories of 1953 to the present and her narrow and
somewhat controlled life in the sheltered flat. We are let in bit by bit to horrific events that changed
Flo's life for ever, and In addition we peep into the lives of the managers and carers who actually
become happier in their own skins by the end of the book. ‘ most of us are just secondary characters.
We take up all the space between the few people who manage to make a mark' .The weekend away
in Whitby is real comedy and tragedy thrown together.
Thirdly the characters are a joy to meet. Flo has real problems remembering things but knows that
some really bad things happened back in 1953 and wants to remember and sort out the facts. The
unwelcome addition of Ronnie to the flats frightens her but also makes her more determined to elicit
the truth and get recompense for her friend Elsie. Elsie appears to be by Flo's side throughout the
story as she calms and guides her through the mire. Jack is another elderly character who recognises
Flo's anguish and does what he can to support her. He clearly recognises and enjoys an adventure
until he is finally beaten. Flo repeats her mantra about Elsie – ‘Elsie was my best friend. She always
knew the right things to say to make me feel better’ until we ourselves discover the third thing about
Elsie.

7 people found this helpful

Claire McAlpine

A Fall, A Fraud and the Forgetfulness of Latter Years

Reviewed in France on April 4, 2018

Verified Purchase

Elsie is Florence’s (Flo) best friend. The book is all about Flo and begins with her lying on the floor having had a fall, she’s waiting for someone to arrive, she lives in a self-contained apartment within a retirement village. She imagines who might come first, what they might say, the ambulance ride to the hospital.

Every few chapters are interspersed with a chapter that is labelled with the time, the first chapter is 4.48pm and the last chapter is 11.12pm. The chapters in between narrate the story of both the present and the past, about her time at Cherry Tree with Jack and Elsie, about staff members Miss Ambrose and Handy Simon, a few outings they take together, both the trio of Jack, Elsie and Flo and a group outing for a couple of days to Whitby.

"I looked across the lounge, and into the past. It was more useful than the present. There were times when the present felt so unimportant, so unnecessary. Just somewhere I had to dip into from time to time, out of politeness."

Flo has plenty of complaints about what she is expected to participate in at Cherry Tree, but she’s also worried about being sent to Greenbank, she feels as though she’s under probation. Her observations about the names of these places and the names of many things, is insightful and adds a lightness to the narrative.

"Another problem with Cherry Tree is there are no cherry trees. I’ve had this out with Miss Bissell on more than one occasion, but she won’t be told. ‘One of them must be,’ is all she can come up with, but none of them is. It’s the kind of name you give to these places though. Woodlands, Oak Court, Pine Lodge. They’re often named after trees for some reason. It’s the same with mental health units. Forests full of forgotten people, waiting to be found again…
It’s like the day room. It’s isn’t a day room, it’s an All The Bloody Time Room. Everybody will be in there now and it isn’t daytime."

And then there is the new resident who looks uncannily familiar to Flo, and makes her fearful and paranoid about events that occurred back in the 1950’s, only no one seems to be taking her seriously about her concerns, so she Jack and Elsie decide to take matters into their own hands.

Memory is like a character in the book, it’s is something that is sometimes there in abundance, stretching far back into the past and at other times, beyond reach.

"‘You need to think about things for longer before you give up, Florence.
I didn’t answer, and we were stuck in a wordless argument for a while.
‘Do you remember taking sandwiches on holiday, when we were children? she said eventually. ‘Do you remember going to Whitby?’
I said I remembered but I wasn’t sure. She could tell straight away, because nothing much gets past Elsie.
‘Think, Florence,’ she said. ‘Think.’
I tried. Sometimes, you feel a memory before you see it. Even though your eyes can’t quite find it, you can smell it and taste it, and hear it shouting to you from the back of your mind.
‘Ham and tomato’ I said. ‘With boiled eggs!’"

Three Things About Elsie is a delightful read, a book written with tremendous empathy and compassion by a writer who has been close to the elderly and listened, and seen them for who they are and have always been, that the bodily exterior and instances of confusion aren’t what defines them.

She portrays these characters with integrity and humour, I had the feeling often as I read that I was watching these scenes happen, so vividly are they drawn, so clear the voices and intentions of the characters. She creates a mystery that intrigues the reader, making me not want to put the book down, desperate to know what was going to happen next and always with that air of doubt, about what is real and what might be the confusion of an elderly woman. But never mind that, for as we read, we are right there with Flo, Jack and Elsie, moving on from one clue to the next, following them in their devilish escapades and hoping that all will be well in the end.

One person found this helpful

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