Fans of Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon series will find this stand-alone audiobook a totally different listening experience. Narrator Kate Burton portrays Rose, a woman in her 60s who has escaped an institution’s Memory Unit. Rose is convinced that she has been falsely committed for dementia. Burton dramatically portrays Rose’s metamorphosis as the drugs that have fogged her brain leave her system. Listeners learn more about her from her granddaughter, portrayed by Burton in a slight Southern accent, and Rose’s reclusive sister, Marion. Burton does a good job of voicing and differentiating the many characters. Barr’s facility with words shines through, though the plot is depressingly real in portraying the situation of the institutionalized elderly yet incredible when it comes to Rose’s adventures. E.Q. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
What Rose Forgot: A Novel
Narrated by Kate Burton
Nevada BarrUnabridged — 8 hours, 24 minutes
What Rose Forgot: A Novel
Narrated by Kate Burton
Nevada BarrUnabridged — 8 hours, 24 minutes
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Overview
In New York Times best-selling author Nevada Barr's gripping stand-alone, a grandmother in her 60s emerges from a mental fog to find she's trapped in her worst nightmare.
Rose Dennis wakes up in a hospital gown, her brain in a fog, only to discover that she's been committed to an Alzheimer's unit in a nursing home. With no memory of how she ended up in this position, Rose is sure something is very wrong. When she overhears one of the administrators saying about her that she's "not making it through the week", Rose is convinced that if she's to survive, she has to get out of the nursing home. She avoids taking her medication, putting on a show for the aides, then stages her escape.
The only problem is — how does she convince anyone that she's not actually demented? Her relatives were the ones to commit her, all the legal papers were drawn up, the authorities are on the side of the nursing home, and even she isn't sure she sounds completely sane. But any lingering doubt Rose herself might have had is erased when a would-be killer shows up in her house in the middle of the night. Now, Rose knows someone is determined to get rid of her.
With the help of her computer hacker/recluse sister, Marion, 13-year-old granddaughter Mel, and Mel's friend Royal, Rose begins to gather her strength and fight back — to find out who is after her and take back control of her own life. But someone out there is still determined to kill Rose, and they're holding all the cards.
Editorial Reviews
06/10/2019
Painter Rose Dennis, the 68-year-old protagonist of this winning standalone from bestseller Barr (the Anna Pigeon series), wakes in the Charlotte, N.C., woods with no notion of how she got there. The hospital gown–clad Rose wanders to the road, where she’s captured and tranquilized. She regains consciousness cuffed to a bed in a nursing home. Convinced she’s being involuntarily held for some nefarious purpose, Rose stops taking her medication and escapes. Drug-induced amnesia lingers, but she manages to locate her 13-year-old granddaughter, Mel, who says Rose began acting strangely after her husband’s recent death. Doctors diagnosed early-onset Alzheimer’s, prompting Rose’s stepsons to hospitalize her. Confident she’s of sound mind and uncertain whom to trust, Rose swears Mel to secrecy and heads home, where she narrowly avoids assassination. Desperate for answers, Rose launches an investigation with help from Mel and others. Tension mounts as Rose’s memory returns and the situation deteriorates. Thrilling action, madcap humor, and a larger-than-life cast energize this cleverly plotted take on a traditional mystery. Barr surprises and entertains from start to finish. 150,000 first printing; author tour. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary Agency. (Sept.)
"Compelling... Fans who love Barr will devour this book, and readers who don’t want to begin a multivolume journey with one character will delight in this new stand-alone title." —Library Journal (starred review)
"Thrilling action, madcap humor, and a larger-than-life cast energize this cleverly plotted take on a traditional mystery. Barr surprises and entertains from start to finish." —Publishers Weekly
"A tour de force that thickens its thriller plot with a razor-sharp view of its heroine's unreliable but perceptive mind." —Kirkus Reviews
★ 08/01/2019
Barr, author of the acclaimed "Anna Pigeon" mysteries, offers this stand-alone that follows a woman through drug-induced memory loss and confinement in a memory care unit. At 68, Rose Dennis has no recollection of what happened in her life that would require her placement in a nursing home. Finally escaping from the institution, Rose, with help from her 13-year-old granddaughter and her sister, pieces together the mystery that has robbed her memory. Like Park Ranger Anna Pigeon, Rose is a strong-willed, resourceful woman who moves forward no matter the odds. She uncovers a corrupt plot of nursing home officials and greedy relatives seeking to get their hands on family fortunes. Just how Rose fits into such a plot is deliciously described by Barr, who captures readers' attention in a plot that becomes more detailed and interconnected with each page. For baby boomer readers who are near Rose's age, the intricacies of her story will be compelling and perhaps a bit scary. VERDICT Fans who love Barr will devour this book, and readers who don't want to begin a multivolume journey with one character will delight in this new stand-alone title. [See Prepub Alert, 2/25/19.]—Patricia Ann Owens, formerly at Illinois Eastern Community Coll., Mt. Carmel
2019-07-01
Barr takes a break from her bestselling series about National Park Ranger Anna Pigeon (Boar Island, 2016, etc.) for a one-of-a-kind stand-alone that follows the adventures of a woman committed to a Memory Care Unit for dementia as she fights to claw back her life.
There's a lot of stuff Rose Dennis doesn't know. She doesn't know when and how she got out of Longwood or when and how she arrived there in the first place. She's surprised and pained when people remind her that although she grew up in New Orleans, she moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, with Harley, her husband of 15 years, and that he's died. At one point she's not even sure whether she's 68 years old or 103. After a pair of orderlies hustle her back to Longwood, however, Rose resolves that it's the medications she's being fed that are sapping her powers of mind and will and vows to stop taking them and escape again, this time for keeps. Fortunately, her second attempt takes her to the home of Melanie Dennis, Harley's levelheaded, resourceful 13-year-old granddaughter, who's more than ready to do whatever it takes to keep Gigi, as she calls Rose, two steps ahead of her pursuers. Unfortunately, one of those pursuers, a shadowy man armed with a knife, breaks into the old house where Rose is hiding out and tries to kill her. More adventures follow, some of them involving Rose's hermitlike sister, Marion Bliss, who offers all the help a life spent online allows, some involving Karen Black, the hapless Longwood nurse Rose gets the better of on three separate occasions. It's both a nuisance and a personal triumph when the media get hold of Rose's story and label her "Gun Granny."
A tour de force that thickens its thriller plot with a razor-sharp view of its heroine's unreliable but perceptive mind.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940172041211 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Macmillan Audio |
| Publication date: | 09/17/2019 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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