A typographic placeholder. Cover art is not available.
On the HahaFiction shelf
Lunch at the Piccadilly
Lil Olive wants to leave Rosehaven Convalescence Center and get back to her apartment and her Oldsmobile. Her nephew Carl is trying to look after her without taking away everything she values. Meanwhile, resident preacher L. Ray Flowers draws Carl into making music and pursues a scheme to combine churches with nursing homes.
From the publisher’s blurb
“Lil longs to be back in her own apartment”Read the full description at Algonquin Books
Paid link · We earn commissions from qualifying Amazon purchases. Affiliate disclosure
What makes it funny?
Lil has an explanation for her difficulty hearing Carl: people don't speak as well as they used to. In the opening excerpt, he also remembers Aunt Sarah regretting that she hadn't bought a new mattress, since she had no idea she'd live so long. L. Ray's institutional solution is larger, with a proposed Nurches of America movement.
The comedy at work
Carl rehearses sensible conversations about Lil's driving and health, then has to hold them with someone who wants her independence back. Her stubborn replies keep him from managing the encounter as neatly as he hopes. L. Ray adds the grand plans of an evangelist to a home full of people with plans of their own.
Try this if…
Family caregiving and elderly people defending their independence are central here. Readers interested in an affectionate ensemble, country music and a preacher with ambitious ideas may find more to enjoy than a string of jokes alone.
Good to know
Physical decline, confusion and the prospect of losing someone close give the story weight. Publishers Weekly praised its sympathy for the residents but found some of the older-driver humor dated and the plot thin.
More funny family comedy
Sources & further reading
- Publisher
Publisher
- Publishers Weekly review
Review
- Opening excerpt
Reading sample
Something we should correct? Let us know.
