From Library Journal:
"Acclaimed Australian writer Astley (_The Slow Natives_) turns her characteristically elegant prose to an examination of the predicaments of aging, as personified by Kathleen, an elderly widow facing loss within herself and without. Taking tea in a mall, appearing to others as mildly eccentric, perhaps a shade dottier than many forgetful oldsters, she ruminates as best she can on her limited choices for shaping what future is left. Kathleen's grown children regard their mother more as a problem than a person, which makes it easier for them to sell her house and furnishings behind her back, euthanize her dog, and arrange a new "home" for her at Passing Downs, a planned retirement "community" Kathleen despises. Even as memory and reason slip beyond her control, she determines to find at least one more day of freedom. Kathleen's wanderings combine hilarity and heartbreak to form an affecting, provocative short narrative. Recommended for most fiction collections."
"Acclaimed Australian writer Astley (_The Slow Natives_) turns her characteristically elegant prose to an examination of the predicaments of aging, as personified by Kathleen, an elderly widow facing loss within herself and without. Taking tea in a mall, appearing to others as mildly eccentric, perhaps a shade dottier than many forgetful oldsters, she ruminates as best she can on her limited choices for shaping what future is left. Kathleen's grown children regard their mother more as a problem than a person, which makes it easier for them to sell her house and furnishings behind her back, euthanize her dog, and arrange a new "home" for her at Passing Downs, a planned retirement "community" Kathleen despises. Even as memory and reason slip beyond her control, she determines to find at least one more day of freedom. Kathleen's wanderings combine hilarity and heartbreak to form an affecting, provocative short narrative. Recommended for most fiction collections."
