I find Cannon's newest novel a kind of continuation of her last book, THE TROUBLE WITH GOATS AND SHEEP. In Goats and Sheep, the two young girls made it their business to find out every detail that the adults wanted to keep from them. They were proper little detectives, with a loving friendship that was endearing and loving.

The story is about two extremely close friends who had weathered a long life and now live in a retirement community called The Cherry Tree Home for the Elderly. The residents live independent lives in their flats with meal and cleaning services. The community room arranges ways for the residents to amuse themselves and socialize with each other.

Florence Claybourne, our unreliable narrator, has fallen in her flat and while she waits for someone to find her, she ruminates about her life and her dear friend, Elsie. Elsie and Flo became friends on the first day of school eons ago. Flo gave up her seat to a disabled girl and sat down with Elsie. That small gesture cemented together with the lives of Flo and Elsie. They know each other inside out, can finish each other's sentences even though Elsie seems to have a better grasp of names and dates.

The ladies come from a small town where everyone knew each other's private lives and who made a success of it and who did not. What I learned from M. Cannon was that it is the small things that happen in life that can change an entire life and make it worthwhile, no matter what the world thinks of your status in society. This novel was another favorite of mine from the wonderful novelist. Joanna Cannon.

Thank you, NetGalley and Scribner for the opportunity to read this e-Arc.

USA publication is expected on August 7th, 2018

Florence is an 84-year-old woman living in the Cherry Tree home for the elderly. She has fallen and is lying on the floor waiting to be rescued. She is thinking about what will happen when the emergency personnel arrive. She is also thinking about a secret from her past and what will happen when that secret has become known. Florence has a lot on her mind, she has recently been put on probation at the home by the director, Miss Ambrose. Florence is having difficulty fitting in with the other residents the home's social program. Plus, Florence seems to be deteriorating mentally. Florence also is concerned about the new resident at the home. He looks like a man she knew in the past - a man who has been dead for sixty years. Who is this man? Why does the figurine appear to be moved? Why does the staff continue to say they may need to move Florence to another facility when she tells them about the missing items, the moved items, and things she finds to be amiss at the home?

Don't let the title fool you, the book is really about Florence. Yes, Elsie does play a BIG part of this book, but the story is about Florence. So now you are probably wondering if the book is about Florence then what are the three things about Elsie? Why is she mentioned in the title? Again, she plays a big part in the book but especially in Florence's life. Best friends since they met on a bus when they were children, they have been best friends and shared many life events together.

Right away I figured out one key part of the plot. I didn't know I was right until the end but after the first chapter, I thought......hmmmmm, I wonder if.......

I enjoyed this book, but I can't say that I loved it. I really enjoyed Florence and her snappy comebacks and interactions with people. There is some mystery in this book concerning Gabriel Price and if he really is who he claims to be. Florence and her friends embarked on a mission to discover the truth and through their detective work, other truths came out as well.

This book is well-written with enjoyable characters, but it failed to really WOW me. This is a book about the characters, their friendships, their secrets, living with a secret, but it is also about aging and living in a home for the elderly. Florence is having difficulty remembering things and I thought the Author did a good job showing Florence and her struggles. Elsie is there, and she helps Florence to remember and gently prods those pesky memories that Florence can't quite grasp initially and bring them to the surface.

I wish some revelations would have be revealed to the reader sooner - such as the one I guessed. For me, this would have enhanced the story. But when the revelation does come at the end, I believe most readers will have that aha moment and realize that clues were there.


Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts and opinions in this review are my own.

I received an advanced reading copy from Scribner and NetGalley. Thanks!

I enjoyed reading this novel. It is the story of a woman who lives in a retirement home along with her best friend from childhood. A new resident shows up and she is sure that he is someone she knew when she was young, except that that man had died. The majority of the novel is comprised of the main character and her friends trying to determine if this is actually the man she thinks it is, and if so, who actually died.

The plot itself is interesting, but what I enjoyed more was the description of this woman’s experience of aging. She spends much of the book trying to convince people around her that she is not suffering from dementia, and has difficulties with confusion and memory. My mother is currently experiencing increasing dementia, and Cannon’s descriptions of the main character’s interior experience, as well as the way most people treat her with respect and affection regardless of these issues, was a pleasant anecdote to the sadness I feel seeing these changes in my mother.

I would say this book is actually a 3+, and it only missed being a four when I looked back at some of the other books that I rated four stars and realized that this one just didn’t quite draw me in in the same way. But all in all, this was a very enjoyable read, that I would happily recommend to anyone.

4.5 Stars

"Where've you been? "
"I've looked for you forever and a day."
"Where've you been?"
"I'm just not myself when you're away."
"No, I'm just not myself when you're away."
-- ”Where’ve You Been,”Kathy Mattea, Songwriters: Don Henry / Jon Vezner

In Cannon’s debut novel, The Trouble with Goats and Sheep two young girls seek to solve a mystery of sorts, and in Three Things About Elsie there is also a mystery that two women seek to solve, but they are no longer young girls, but elderly women living in an assisted care facility and the mystery they wish to solve has them wandering back and forth through time.

”There are three things you should know about Elsie. The first 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.”

Florence and Elsie, Elsie and Florence. Best friends since they were young girls. Their whole lives.

Florence sees a room being emptied, another person not to return to there or anywhere, their things to be scattered, disposed of, photographs tossed in alongside the books that may or may not have been read, or finished. It all disappeared so easily, and the room was so quickly returned to the state it had been in before. She wonders how much her life has mattered, if she has given anything that has made a difference to anyone.

Explaining, or even examining the past is not Florence’s strong point, her memory is a bit spotty, but then she always has Elsie to encourage her memories up to the surface, and then they can comb through them together, knowing buried treasures will be found.

She sees a face that she is sure she knows from the past, she is sure he is Ronnie Butler, a man who drowned in 1953, a man known to be violent, only this man appearing before her has a different name – Gabriel Price. Is he who he says he is, or is he the man she, and Elsie, knew? Soon, he is living at the assisted care facility and starts ingratiating himself to the workers, especially the one who has it in for Florence, who is keeping track of every reason to have Florence leave Cherry Tree and be sent to Greenbank.

Little by little Florence begins to notice little things that are amiss, missing, or moved, and every time she complains to the people in charge, she’s made aware that she’s that much closer to being moved to the facility for those who need additional care.

Secrets. Loss. Memories. Long seconds. Nostalgia. Small Acts of Kindness. The connection we have to those things attached to memories, the memories of those we loved, or moments we cling to. Old age and life-long friendship. These are all at the heart of this story. As the blurb for this says: ”As we uncover their buried secrets, we learn how the fine threads of humanity connect us all.”

This was longlisted for the 2018 Women’s Prize for fiction. It is also among those books being touted as the newly branded “Up Lit,” books with an optimistic story, typically focused on kindness, on human connection “love” stories, rather than “romantic” love, but also more than just a “feel good” story.

For readers who enjoyed Joanna Cannon’s ’The Trouble with Goats and Sheep’, Gail Honeyman’s ’Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine’, and/or Rachel Joyce’s ’The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’


Pub Date: 07 AUG 2018


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Scribner

This is a much bigger story than it first appears. End of life, regrets, friendship, love and a mystery....all with engaging characters. Bittersweet and thoroughly enjoyable.

I received an advanced readers’ copy in exchange for an honest review –

I loved this book. It’s similar to her first, except on the other end of the life spectrum, and that it both reveals the darkness of human nature while still being able to celebrate the good. A few of the plot twists were predictable, but that in no way took away from my enjoyment of the novel, as it is more of a philosophical novel than a cozy mystery in it’s essence. I’ll be carrying Florence and Elsie with me for some time.

I had trouble getting through this book as it was rather ordinary and not engaging. Not a bad writer but nothing much to story

I adored The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, and Joanna Cannon is just as adept at the voice of an 80-year-old woman as she is at that of a little girl. Unfortunately I read this soon after the much more interesting Elizabeth Is Missing. This was a bit too treacly and sentimental for my taste, and to me the twist was fairly obvious from the beginning.

I've been enjoying books with elderly main characters lately for some reason! This one is a good reminder that everyone has a past. Well paced, interesting concept.

Three things about Elsie was a perfect book for me during a rainy holiday weekend. Being a woman of a certain age, I have to admit, it did resonate with me.

This was a hard book for me to read, with Florence exhibiting signs of dementia worsening. There is an element of mystery added, but it is Florence’s storyline that dominates. I found the book to drag and it was not holding my interest.

I really loved Cannon's first book and I liked this one but it made me incredibly sad. I will definitely recommend it and I am sure with time I will end up rating it higher.