Ahhhhh what a great read, not my usual kind of book but I’m sooooo glad I picked this one up and gave it a go!

So basically the book opens with poor old Florence lying at the bottom of the stairs after a nasty tumble, nobody seems to be coming to her rescue and so she starts to reminisce about what’s happened in her life and so the story begins.

I totally adored this book, it covered the sad topic of memory loss as we all age and that always makes me sad, thinking about all the memories I may lose as I age as Florence did, but it’s also quite witty too and there is a mystery in amongst the story and memories!

Really lovely book a little gem....

I absolutely loved this book. The characters were delightful, and I came to feel that I really knew them as the book progressed. As the story unfolded, I became more and more hooked, until finally reaching the very satisfying conclusion. I’m really cross that the book has now finished, and might just have to start reading it all over again!

This book is a lot of things. It's funny, it's endearing, it's surprising and it's heartbreaking. I loved Florence, Elsie and Jack,they snuck their way into my heart and I was thinking of them long after their story was over. While reading the book I kept forgetting that Florence was lying on her living room floor waiting for help to arrive and when we did get back to it I felt myself getting anxious about her.

These friends are living in sheltered accommodation, Florence has the onset of dementia and can't seem to function properly without her friend Elsie. They are all woried about Florence being moved into a care home. That said, it will surprise you just what they get up to when a face from the past threatens them.
I didn't really enjoy Joanna Cannon's debut novel,The Trouble With Goats and Sheep ( many people loved it) so I was unsure about this one but as I have always loved the stories on her blog so I thought I would at least try it. I'm so glad I did,I loved this book and I cried my eyes out at the totally unexpected twist near the end,so very clever. This will definitely be in my top ten books for this year.

This is Joanna Cannon's follow-up to the outstanding debut novel The Trouble with Goats and Sheep which I loved when I read it this time in 2016. I was slightly worried if she would manage to pull out another wonderful book or whether this would be the dodgy second novel that you sometimes see authors produce. Having finished the book this weekend I am thrilled to report that this is not the case at all. This is a very different novel to the first but equally as wonderful.

Our central characters are all octogenarians who live at the Cherry Tree Home for the Elderly - we spend our time with Elsie, Florence and Jack, the managers of the home Miss Bissell and Miss Ambrose and the caretaker Handy Simon. It soon becomes apparent that Florence is suffering from dementia and is threatened with a move to another care home Greenbank if her 'performance' doesn't improve in a month. Elsie, her best friend, is her helping hand, always telling her to remember three things from the past so that she doesn't forget the present. Their daily lives are quite mundane until a new resident moves in, a Mr Gabriel Price who seems polite, capable and a friend to everyone. However, for Florence this sparks a memory of the past, of a man she knew as Ronnie Butler who drowned sixty years earlier. The trouble is, who is going to believe anything a woman with memory problems says?

Joanna Cannon takes us on a journey with Florence from the present day back through her memories of growing up with Elsie and of the infamous Ronnie Butler. Who is he and why does Florence think he has now returned from the dead? There are some wonderful moments of humour throughout, some characters you will both love and detest and some emotional scenes too. Three Things about Elsie has them all in spades and I predict this will become another huge bestseller. Grab a cuppa, a slice of battenburg cake and devour the book that everyone will be talking about this year before I run out of superlatives to describe it!!!!

This is a super book. Florence is in her eighties and living in sheltered accommodation. Her best friend Elsie is her constant companion. A new resident, Gabriel, moves in and Florence recognises him as someone frightening from her past, even though he is calling himself a different name, Ronald. With fellow resident Tom, they go searching for clues about what happened and why he has turned up at this point in time. The book is written in a very engaging style and flits back and forth between the recent past and Florence's youth. I enjoyed reading about the lives of the other characters, Miss Ambrose the warden and Simon the handyman. The ending seemed a little far fetched as did the motivations of Ronald. But I would highly recommend reading it.

I love Joanna Cannon. Se has a way of creating these tight, believable character relationships that really touch your heart. I loved the fact that this had elderly characters - they are so little represented in their diverse personalities rather than as stereotypes in fiction. This didn't catch me in the way that The Trouble with Goats and Sheep did but this was still heart warming and engaging. A lovely book.

Florence is a resident of the Cherry Tree Home, an assisted living apartment block. Florence has had a fan and while she lies on the floor she contemplates the events that have brought her to the stage where she is threatened with removal to a nursing home. Florence is close to her friend Elsie and there is a secret from the past which is always just out of reach of Florence's mind. However when a new resident at the home appears to be the spitting image of a man Florence knows is dead then events take a more sinister turn. Meanwhile House manager Miss Ambrose is considering her future and Simon the Handyman is obsessed with his past.

This book is so gentle and beguiling in that although events are unpleasant at times and that the 'twist' isn't really a twist (it's obvious from the beginning), as a reader I just got completely wrapped up in the tale. Florence is such a sympathetic character, a woman in her 80s who may be losing her marbles or may be the victim of a set-up by a person unknown. Her relationship with Elsie is heartfelt and goes back many years but sometimes the details are blurred. I loved the section set in Whitby, the love for that town is evident. However most of all I loved the fact that this was a book about old age and wasn't written in a patronising way. This is the second novel that Cannon has written and, whilst different from the first, shows the development of a warm yet challenging writer.

This is such a beautiful book, the writing is almost poetic. Although it is about a very serious subject I still found myself smiling more that crying. A wonderful heartwarming and heartbreaking read.

Florence is an 84 year old lady who is living in sheltered accommodation when she had a fall and is lying on the floor waiting for help to arrive. While she is lying there her mind starts to wander and go back over her life and her amazing friendship with Elsie, her best friend since she was a girl, and we learn the great story of her life

A lovely book, brilliant characters, I especially loved Simon, and with some intrigue and a mystery to solve thrown in it was definitely a book that grabbed you, I loved it.

There are three things I love about Three Things About Elsie. First, it made me cry tears of both happiness and sorrow; second it is such an engaging story; and third, it is written by the author of one of my favourite books of last year, The Trouble with Goats and Sheep.
Florence may be elderly but she's not ready to give up on life yet – or to be sent to Greenbank, which is pretty much the same thing. She lives in sheltered accommodation at Cherry Tree with her friend Elsie and they have their daily routine, enjoying a cuppa and a bit of Battenburg. Then one day Florence spots a face from the past – what's Ronnie Butler doing at Cherry Tree? He's calling himself Gabriel Price, but it's definitely him, isn't it? But it can't be, because Ronnie drowned in 1953. Thus begins an entertaining, poignant, laugh-out-loud search for the truth as Florence, Elsie and fellow Cherry Tree resident Jack battle the authorities, old age and infirmity in the hope of discovering just what Ronnie/Gabriel is up to. A fourth thing I loved about this book is that part of it is set in Whitby, and the sense of place created by the author made me feel as if I was actually there. Read this one – you won't regret it!

A gentle story of old age, friendship and memories lost.
Florence is 84 and is living in sheltered accommodation, along with her constant companion Elsie and close friend Jack. Florence is on a month’s probation for her erratic behaviour and under threat of being moved on to the dreaded Greenbanks, where those with dementia are left lonely and isolated, waiting to die.
At the outset of the story, we learn that Florence has had a fall in her room, and is awaiting rescue. The progress of time, as she waits for someone to find her, is returned to at regular intervals in the story, while the rest of the action is being related.
There is a sinister side to the events that start to unfold. A man has newly arrived who Florence immediately recognises as Ronnie, someone she has tried to forget. He now goes by another name, Gabriel Price, but who can she tell about this and who will believe her? Although her memory is starting to fail, Florence urgently needs to search back into the past to reveal Ronnie for the villain that he is. With the help of Elsie and Jack, the mystery starts to unravel, but it means that Florence has to face up to many painful memories, that bring back her actions from long ago. She not only needs to expose Ronnie but to come to terms with the past herself.
This is a clever and convincing study of old age, describing with great accuracy the desperate struggle against a failing memory. It is told with poignant detail and flashes of humour. There are occasional, brilliant lines that make you smile as you read them and the mystery behind the story forces you to keep turning the pages. However, I did find the denouement in the plot too fast and unconvincing, which just spoiled things a little, but the final chapter in Florence’s story is moving and seems to tell us that no life, however it is lived, is worthless.
I recommend this as a good read and look forward to this author’s next book.
Jane
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review

A lovely read. Really sad in parts but then heartwarming and uplifting in others! Very well written and fantastic characters.

A book of prose filled with poetic turns of phrases, with wisdom and philosophy, a whodunnit with unlikely sleuths, memories found and lost. A book about Florence, living at sheltered accomodation and her best friend Elsie who always knows that right thing to say. A book about secrets that happened many years back, about to pop up out of the dark drawers in one’s memory. Old age with a range of emotions from frustration to happy times. Rarely have I found a book that is so full of emotions, so emphatic and so knowledgable.

I really liked Joanna Cannon's first book but I adored this one! It is essentially a story of friendship, memories and the difference we can all make in this world.

A heart warming, tender, sweet and sad story. For anyone who likes action packed, plot driven novels then this probably isn’t for you. If, like me, you prefer strong character driven novels then this should be right up your street. The story oozes out slowly like warm caramel.
Florence is a character that you want to wrap up keep somewhere safe, I loved her! The interaction between her, Jack and Elsie is just lovely.
The novel also highlighted the shortfalls in care and treatment of the elderly. It does make you wonder how many elderly deteriorate because of lack of stimulation and being treated like children.
My only criticism is that I felt the ending was a little weak compared to the rest of the book, a little rushed for me.
My thanks to Netgalley for this copy.

What a beautiful story. At first I was trying to work out the genre,wondering if it was leading to a murder, or a psychological twist, but I think really this defies genre. We meet Florence, lying on the floor of her sheltered accommodation, imagining different scenarios where someone discovers her, the conversations they'll have as the paramedics come to take her to hospital. The book then moves between narration of recent events which bring up flashbacks to Florence's younger days. We read about Florence in the sheltered housing complex - she is put on probation ("what have I done wrong?") and if she's not on her best behaviour she'll be off to Greenbank, the nursing home. Florence's lifelong friend Elsie is in the housing complex with her and they always meet in Florence's flat or the day room. Elsie applies the voice of reason, getting Florence to think for herself. She can always remember the first two things, but the third thing is always just out of reach of her mind. This is a beautiful, and touching account of living with early dementia, and gives us insight into what may be going through the mind of the person who is experiencing this dreadful illness. It should make us all think about how we treat older people. Florence comments to Handy Simon towards the end that he hadn't spoken to her as if she was a child. And we see how people appreciate someone take an interest in them when Florence asks the girl about her daughter - it completely changes the girl's attitude and demeanour. We see Handy Simon make discoveries about his life, having lived in his father's shadow until now. And Miss Ambrose begins to make more decisions about her personal life rather than live through the old people. And as well as the delightful characters there is a story behind it, dating back to an unsolved murder from 1953. I was really sorry to finish this wonderful story and leave the characters behind.

Absolutely wonderful book and will bear re-reading in a year or two. Funny, profound and moving. Brilliantly written, very real characters and an intriguing mystery too.

Filed under ‘beautiful things that made my heart hurt’: this book.

I loved it, by the way. Let’s make that clear from the start because sometimes I read my stuff back after the fact and sort of think ‘wow, that review does not make it seem like I loved that as much as I did’ which is unfortunate, really. Anyhow. I really really liked this book. Also, sometimes I worry that my saying a book left me feeling a little ouchy might be misinterpreted as my not liking it.

This book made my heart hurt and I liked it a whole lot.




I was a huge fan of The Trouble With Goats and Sheep when I read it last year – a recommendation from my friend Natalie - and so was really excited when I heard Joanna Cannon had written something else and it had some kind of link with Battenburg cake. I love Battenburg cake (I think everybody does, am I right?). I was excited about it, and I read it last week and you know, it is so worth a read this book. It’s lovely. If you like stories about the enduring power of friendship, and you like a good mystery and you like books that remind you about things that are really important, then this book is so worth a read.

Three Things About Elsie is kind of the opposite of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep; the story here is that of Florence (which as a small by the by is my Granny’s name so guess who I was picturing in my head the whole way through). She’s in her 80’s and she has fallen in her sheltered accommodation and is waiting for somebody to come and find her. She’s so certain that they will, and that they’ll be kind, and as she waits she reflects on the things that have been happening in the run up to her fall, the new resident who looks exactly like somebody from a past Florence thought she’d left behind her (he died years ago yet Florence knows it’s him so why will nobody believe her) and her best friend, Elsie, who is perhaps the only person left – certainly the only person at Cherry Tree – who understands her, who can help her grasp the threads of memory that she feels slipping through her fingers and who doesn’t think Florence needs shipping off to Greenbank – the home for people who aren’t well enough to live relatively independently at Cherry Tree.
It’s an incredibly moving story but it’s told so beautifully. Also, I am just such a fan of Joanna Cannon’s writing style; I felt it in Goats and Sheep, the way she got right into the head of her 10 year old Grace and made you think and feel, the way her stories and her characters got under your skin and made you believe in them, made you feel like you were witnessing something that mattered and she’s done the same here. Cannon is a perceptive writer and it’s those moments of subtle perception that really make her work stand out for me: the book is littered with them, and they’re like a beautiful sucker punch that make you ache for the Florence’s of this world.

There is a special kind of silence when you live alone. It hangs around, waiting for you to find it. You try to cover it up with all sorts of other noises, but it’s always there, at the end of everything else, expecting you.
Three Things About Elsie is a delicate story, cleverly woven and slow to unfold, so so poignant but sometimes making you laugh out loud, and sometimes it hurts watching Florence try to make sense of what’s going on around her, of trying to make people listen, of feeling like she is losing her voice when she still has so much to say.

There’s a twist which I worked out pretty early on, not that that took anything away from the story, at all and whilst some of the stuff surrounding the mysterious new resident / figure from Florence’s past did seem a little improbable I still found myself buying into the whole thing. Mostly though, this book made me feel things. It was personal, I could relate to it, dementia is a thing most people have personal experience of I think and this book got me right in the feels and it made me think and it made my heart hurt. It broke my heart, it made me really believe that there is so much more to everybody than the worst thing they have ever done and it made me smile; I loved it.

I really wasn't sure about this book to start with. It felt very similar to both Elizabeth is Missing and The 100-year-old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared, both of which I liked at the time of reading but didn't love. However, from about a third of the way in I was hooked. I loved the mystery and the adventures and by the final few pages I had a little tear in my eye.
The book had a real air of reminding us who people were before they got old and not forgetting that underneath the exterior they're the same person they were as a teenager.

This was one of those books that you finish and then want to start again right away. It’s full of lots of details that bear a second look, I definitely missed some things! I loved the fact that it’s about old people, there aren’t enough good books about the elderly! I really worry about what I can say without spoiling the book, so I will limit my comments to: I loved the central characters, I loved watching the story unfold, and the book made me hungry for battenberg!