The Great Escape from Woodlands Nursing Home: A totally laugh out loud and uplifting novel of friendship, love and aging disgracefully

Having read and enjoyed The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village, I've been looking forward to this one! Hattie Bloom is dismayed to be forced to convalesce after a fall; she has lived in her cottage surrounded by wildlife all her life and really doesn't fancy being stuck in a nursing home and dreams of 'breaking out'. Walter Clements is already a resident in the home and all that stops him from returning home is the red tape preventing him from using his mobility scooter. When they meet Sister Bronwyn's and Queenie, her dog, at the unconventional club, The Night Owls, Hattie and Walter don't really get on but when Bronwyn loses her job, they need to work together and a friendship takes it's first tentative steps. As with her previous novel, Joanna Nell reminds us all that getting older doesn't mean stopping living and there is never a dull moment! A great story, packed with memorable characters and beautifully written, this is a book which will also prod at the conscience of anyone who regards the elderly as having nothing to offer in today's world. This is such good fun but with an undertone of reality throughout. There are some very poignant moments, adding up to a very good read and one I'm happy to give four stars.

I am always pleased to see Joanna Nell's name appear on my list of new novels. Ever since her debut novel, The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village, I have been a huge fan. Joanna Nell writes beautiful, amusing novels about wonderful characters who are completely true to life. Just because people reach their later years does not mean that they should be cut off from independence and freedom of choice. Joanna Nell breathes life into her characters, they are endearing and definitely three dimensional. The reader becomes totally involved with the characters and we laugh and cry with them from the start to the finish of their stories. Those stories are always poignant. I think this is what makes a new Joanna Nell novel such a treat, she has a heart and really cares for her characters, her empathy for them comes across directly to the reader who in turn wants them to win through. More please Ms Nell, you never disappoint.