A timely tale of ownership and loss, loneliness and connection, and a meditation on all the stuff in our lives.
Home staging is an art of erasure. But in some cases—no matter how much clutter you remove, or how many coats of white paint you apply—stains bleed through, and memories rise from the walls like ghosts. Harriet, an elderly poet whose eccentricities have been compounded by years of living alone, must sell her beloved house. Having been recently diagnosed with dementia, she is being moved into a care facility against her wishes. When stagers Eleanor and Jacob are hired for the job, they quickly find themselves immersed in Harriet's brimming and mysterious world, but as they struggle to help her, their own lives are unravelling.
Keep is a meditation on all the stuff in our lives——from the singular, handcrafted artifact to indelible, mass-produced plastics. As Jenny Haysom excavates the material of our domestic spaces, she centers on the people within them and celebrates the power of memory, even when it falters.
• Author worked as a home stager and was struck by how staging was a form of erasure, removing the personality of a place.
• Sharply observed portrayal of early stages of dementia.
• "Domestic" novel—thoughtful representation of the sense of place and relationship to things of people at different stages of life.
• Critique of late capitalism.
• Beautifully written, author is an award-winning poet.
• The book's mood/tone: Reflective—it explores the relationship between home and possessions; poignant—explores different kinds of loss and grief; topical—a commentary on real estate and development, the packaging of idealized possible lives.
• For women 35+; Gen X/Sandwich Generation for whom the challenges of ageing parents are imminent, downsizing will resonate. Potential for book clubs with a more literary bent.
