My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Tracey asked to see my outfit. I held out my baggy black top and leggings. I’d thought about jeans but settled on the gothic look favoured by my friends at poly. It hid my stomach, although the leggings added a few pounds elsewhere. After I’d been sitting down the material would sag, making it look as if I had a saggy bum and boobs on my knees.

 

I’ve been there once or twice. The carpet is used as an ashtray and the glasses have more lipstick than a cosmetics counter. But it’s handy for building the immune system.

 

I should try a bit harder for Alice, even if I didn’t feel inclined to do so. It would be like taking a porcupine on a date and hoping you didn’t upset it. Except, unlike Alice, they looked cute.

 

“Who could be weaker and more vulnerable than someone with dementia? It’s not so easy to hurt someone who has a voice, like the others.” She gazed at me, her eyes filled with love. “But you’ve got one, Bee. Use it for them. Come what may.”

My Review:

 

These storylines resonated for me as I had also labored at a nursing home in the early 80s while working my way through university. And while I didn’t have flaming red hair, I was in possession of ample curves and a bit extra where I didn’t need it, as was the main character of Belinda. Although I will confess to having far more lip and backbone to me than Belinda had been blessed with.

Sharley Scott did an excellent job in holding to the accuracy of the period of big hair, assorted music, slowly shifting attitudes, and the odd culture of the time. I got a bit nostalgic as even after all these years, I could put faces of my former patients and heinous co-workers to similar characters making their way through the storylines. The writing was easy to follow, engaging, well-paced, wryly amusing, and hit all the feels with emotive and evocative word choices.