The Great Escape from Woodlands Nursing Home: A gorgeously uplifting novel from the bestselling author of THE SINGLE LADIES OF JACARANDA RETIREMENT VILLAGE
£0.90
*Joanna Nell’s new brilliantly heartwarming and moving novel, THE TEA LADIES OF ST JUDE’S HOSPITAL, is available to pre-order now!*
‘Poignant and warm-hearted . . . a tonic for our times.’ – Holly Miller, author of The Sight of You
At nearly ninety, retired nature writer Hattie Bloom prefers the company of birds to people, but when a fall lands her in a nursing home she struggles to cope with the loss of independence and privacy. From the confines of her ‘room with a view’ – of the car park! – she dreams of escape.
Fellow ‘inmate’, the gregarious, would-be comedian Walter Clements also plans on returning home as soon as he is fit and able to take charge of his mobility scooter.
When Hattie and Walter officially meet at The Night Owls, a clandestine club run by Sister Bronwyn and her dog, Queenie, they seem at odds. But when Sister Bronwyn is dismissed over her unconventional approach to aged care, they must join forces – and very slowly, an unlikely, unexpected friendship begins to grow.
Full of wisdom and warmth, The Great Escape from Woodlands Nursing Home is a gorgeously poignant, hilarious story showing that it is never too late to laugh – or to love.
Praise for Joanna Nell:
‘Hugely entertaining . . . funny and heart-warming’ Woman & Home
‘A gentle, warm-hearted book that had me rooting for all the characters and laughing out loud at points’ LIBBY PAGE, author of The Lido
‘A warm and touching story with a cast of characters who became my friends’ – Katie Marsh, author of THE REST OF ME
‘The perfect blend of funny and moving’ – Natasha Lester, author of THE PARIS SEAMSTRESS
‘A funny and poignant exploration of growing old disgracefully and enjoying your twilight years’ – Culturefly
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Additional information
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton (27 Oct. 2020) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 1658 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 357 pages |
by SMTC
For me this was a very difficult book to read, because it brought back so many memories of a much loved Aunt incarcerated against her will in a care “home” for four years. Unlike the characters in the book she never came to terms with being there, for us it was a nightmare. The book illustrates all that is wrong with care for the elderly, care homes say that it is the residents “home” but do not allow the residents any choices about meals times, social activities, their personal time tables, Hattie was told getting up at 10am was lazy – not when you naturally go to bed at 1am! Even worse the decisions made about repairing Hattie’s house, without telling her, it was so harrowing to read when she discovered that her beloved tree was gone . The rebellious characters clearly show their frustration and manage to resolve the issues, which was enjoyable to read. This book should be read by anyone considering putting someone in a “Home”. My thanks to Joanna Nell for so cleverly telling the story of care home from the residents point of view.
by angela
I have enjoyed several books by Joanna Nell and this one kept me entertained all the way through, although I thought some of the escapades were rather unlikely. However, I am sure many people would dream of ‘escaping’ to their old lives now and again.
by Patricia
Laugh out loud…very good and easy to read
by Charlie88
I used to work in a care home years ago so the story intrigued me to find out more. It is a good and funny read even if it is a bit far fetched. I didn’t realise the story was set in Australia as I live in the UK so presumed it would be set there. It is a good read but it wasn’t a gripping one so you could put it down and come back to it. Just a nice story all round really.
by Kong
Spoiler alert: this book will make you chuckle throughout. It is an highly perceptively tale of the trials and tribulations, including the sorrows, of life in an aged-care home viewed from the perspective of one who knows. 5ere were parts that reminded me of the experiences of my own father, who might have enjoyed the liberty promised by a ‘Tesla’. One of the aspects that struck home particularly hard was the portrayal of the home’s inhabitants at widely varying stages of mental facility. Some were clearly as sharp as a razor and others, less so. This is indeed an accurate picture. Nevertheless, there is joy as well as sorrow and, for this reason above all, the book I shall commended highly.
by Shelagh
I totally adored Joanna’s first two books and so looked forward to a new read. This one came at lockdown only months after my mum had moved to a “home from home” Residential Nursing Home. I found this a very hard book to read, Joanna did such a great job keeping me turning the pages.
Mum had great difficulty settling and when we couldn’t even visit her due to lockdown the heartbreak intensified. Being a GP Joanna would, I think be horrified at the way our older generation in care homes were treated during that difficult time.
Mum is in a better place now, I firmly believe, I also believe I may be at a point soon where I can reread this book and enjoy it more.
Really looking forward to the current new publication and plan to go back to my favourite so far “The Voyage . . .”
by Amazon Customerlindy
I found this book a little hard to get into. The characters were quite believable and the situations comedic. But it just didn’t hang together as a story line. Looking forward to the next book about a group of ladies.
by El
It’s a nice book but it I felt it had the potential to be better. This is a book which has a lot of heart and it delicately covers topics which are often overlooked in books such as ageing, decline in health, death and grieving and it does so in a respectful way. It was a slow burner and it took me a while to get in to it but by the time I had finished it I had become quite attached to several of the characters, particularly Murray. I also thought the commentary linking human behaviour and the behaviour of birds was a nice touch.
However I wasn’t keen on the continual use of acronyms for the Nursing Home Staff such as; the DON and the AIN and if I’m honest most of the time I couldn’t remember what each one stood for but as it bared no significance to the story this wasn’t a big deal but was something that I found mildly irritating. I also didn’t like how the plotline jumped around at times, for example the plan with the minibus had not been mentioned at all until the point that they were executing the plan.
It’s a nice read, I’d recommend it to anyone looking for an easy, light read.