Why a Booktrail?
1953, 2000s: The last Voyage on board a cruiseship
The Last Voyage of Mrs Henry Parker
What you need to know before your trail
As the wife of retired ship’s doctor Dr Henry Parker, Evelyn is living out her twilight years aboard the Golden Sunset. Every night she dresses for dinner – gown, tiara, runners – and regales her fellow passengers with stories of a glamorous life travelling the world in luxury, as well as showing off her superior knowledge of everything from ships’ customs to biographical details of her heroine, Florence Nightingale. The crew treat her with deference. And forbearance.
But when Henry goes missing, Evelyn sets off to search every part of the grand ocean liner to find him, casino, nightclub and off-limits areas included.
Misadventures are had, new friends are made, scandalous behaviour noted – all news to Evelyn. If only she could remember the events of the night before as clearly as she can recall the first time she met Henry on a passage from England to Australia in 1953 and fell in love, abandoning her dreams to become a midwife to be a wife instead – and the long-ago painful events that left Evelyn all at sea.
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
Sail aways on the Last Voyage of Mrs Henry Parker
This is a book which deals with the sad issue of dementia and is mostly set onboard a ship.
The ships sails from England to Australia and the memories, the words, the character are what are important. A snapshot of live with people afloat, adrift in the middle of the ocean…
The atmosphere is that of the confusion of dementia:
“Back in the present, the woman was talking again, a conveyor belt of words and sentences that Evelyn could barely keep up with”
“Her thoughts scattered like a shoal of fish from a shark”
“When the doors opened, however, it was full of soft-bodied passengers pressed together like marshmallows in a jar. She tutted her judgement. She blamed elasticated clothing for the overcrowding in modern-day elevators”
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Last Voyage of Mrs Henry Parker
Destination:England, Australia Author/Guide: Joanna Nell Departure Time: 2000s, 1953
Back to ResultsWhere Next?
