Enjoy

Picked up at this afternoon's meetup.

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Joan fights off the boredom and loneliness of life in a rest home by imagining characters from the past into life. But the staff interpret her imaginings as the onset of dementia, and begin medicating her. As the story progresses, it becomes less and less clear just how rational Joan really is, but what is clear is how little respect the staff give to the wishes of those in their care - as medical professionals, they know best, and that's the bottom line.

Interwoven with this journey into dementia is a journey Joan has taken with her daughter, back to her childhood home in South Africa, bringing to the surface family stories about the Boer War, and their mistreatment at the hands of the English.

The story was confusing at times (I suspect intentionally so, given the subject matter), and occasionally over-dramatic (the side-plot about the daughter's business failures didn't add much, I felt, other than reinforcing that she was too busy and important to care for her mother), but the Boer War stuff was really interesting - I'd never read about that period of history before, and had no idea how bad it was for the Boers.

Given to Lytteltonwitch at today's meetup.

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Recommended to me as a good read