Well, I didn't think this was as good as Clara Callan but, since it was written in 1990, it probably took Wright some years to hone his craft. I did think it showed the promise that was fulfilled in Clara Callan.

This book tells the story of life in a senior citizens' home over a few months in the fall of some unspecified year. It starts with the arrival of Miss Ormsby, a retired English teacher, who decided after a stroke and setting her settee on fire that she should move out of the home she had lived in all her life. Miss Ormsby smokes cigarettes and likes Johnnie Walker but mostly she likes to listen to her classical music and read poetry. This makes her suspicious to her next door neighbour, Mrs. Lucas. However, Mrs. Lucas is suspicious of almost everyone and she absolutely despises her other next door neighbour, Lorne Truscott. Truscott is a dirty old man but at least he admits it unlike Mr. Wilkie, another retired teacher. Wilkie had numerous affairs when he was younger but now he thinks all the women residents are after him and he wants nothing to do with them. These citizens of the home interact in expected and unexpected ways. Miss Ormsby is the centre of the book and she is the most interesting. At 75 she figures she has at most 5 years to live and she plans to live them with as much enjoyment as possible. She has made plans for her funeral and burial and talks frankly about death. She would be a good model for aging gracefully (except for the smoking part). ( )