When sixty-three-year-old Alma, a failure at all she undertakes, decides to run away from her controlling and impatient husband, the result, like most of her efforts, is a disaster. She ends up in rehab in Glen Willow Gardens nursing home among the other “inmates” who mostly suffer from some form of dementia. There, as she recovers from both an accident and a subsequent stroke,
Alma’s kindness and humor lead her to enjoy unfamiliar successes in caring for herself and others. She also finds friendship with a lonely gardener and the man who was responsible for her accident. When it is time to choose her path into the future, she leaves Glen Willow Gardens a stronger, more independent woman.
GusGus Press
128 pp. ● 4.25 x 7
$10.95 (pb) ● $4.99 (eb)
ISBN 978-1-949290-05-9 (pb)
FICTION / Literary
Publication date: February 2019
Lisa Julin Sharon’s stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Ploughshares, Sequestrum, Cleaver Magazine, and The Painted Bride Quarterly, among others. This novella grew out of many hours visiting parents in nursing homes where she developed an appreciation for the humor, strength and sadness of people facing loss of independence at the end of their lives. Lisa holds a law degree and a Master’s in English. She writes from her home in Cleveland Hts., Ohio.