Frangipani House – Beryl Gilroy (1986) 109 pages
Frangipani House tells the story of the indomitable Mama King in her twilight years, and her rebellion against the titular nursing home:
“The occupants of Frangipani House were a lucky few – lucky to escape the constipated, self-seeking care which large, poor families invariably provide. After much heart-searching, children who have prospered abroad and bought what was considered superior care for their parents, when distance intervened between anguished concern and the day-to-day expression of that concern.”
Set in Guyana, it is also one more stop on my Around the World in 80 Books reading challenge.
Mama King’s family place her in the care of nursing home under the deeply unlikable matron Olga Trask. Mama King has the measure of Olga and doesn’t cut her any slack.
“Since I come here I look but all I see is what passed and gone. You have now, all I have is long ago. Go and count you money. It got old people blood on it!”
The total disregard of anything beyond the inhabitants’ basic needs by the home means that unsurprisingly Mama King deteriorates significantly. She starts asking for her husband Danny, who disappeared several decades earlier.
“As she had done many years before she once again wrapped their secret tightly round herself. That way it gave her comfort in bed each night, and sustained her wherever she went each day.”
It is only when her old friend Miss Ginchi visits her that we learn the truth of Danny’s abuse of Mama King.
Mama King was highly respected in her community as a hard worker and a kind person. Her friends and family are distressed to see her deterioration and disorientation away from her own home, but no one has any plans change the situation.
Mama King escapes from Frangipani House and is taken into the care of a group of homeless people. Although life is hard, Mama King thrives:
“They was kind. They was good – sharing, protecting – giving me respect and friendship. They have little but they give a lot. They give me back my senses because they treat me like I was somebody. Their heart shine out to me like clean clear glass.”
Frangipani House is a plea for kindness alongside sensitive care of older members of society. It highlights the dangers of disregarding the human dignity of individuals. Yet it never comes across as preachy, or pushes its themes at the cost of its characters.
I’ve not read Beryl Gilroy before but on the basis of this novella I definitely plan to again. Frangipani House was told with such energy and lightness of touch. I’ll be really interested to see what else Beryl Gilroy wrote – I know that it includes an autobiography of her extraordinary life.
madame bibi lophile recommends 
Aged care is such a difficult social issue.
It mostly isn’t reasonable to expect the next generation to provide in-home care, but residential aged care isn’t consistently good enough. Where my father was here in Melbourne was excellent, and he was as contented as you can be when you’re not at home where you’d rather be. But there have been horror stories in the press, and here in Victoria we’ve had a Royal Commission to improve things. Its recommendations are in the process of being implemented now…
Still, with rare exceptions, it’s the wonderful staff who are doing their best under difficult circumstances. We owe them a lot.
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Yes I completely agree Lisa. There are terrible stories of abuse reported here, but of course those doing great work will be unsung heroes. We have an aging population and chronically underfunded services. In the last year, three of my friends have had to find homes for a parent and it’s an incredibly stressful process. Two had to moved from the first homes they were in, but all are settled in excellent places now.
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A very relevant book, especially since I have been reading on ageing and ageism in the academic context as well. Abuse in care is commoner than one thinks, and the issue is not only with physical abuse but also that in care, most just become an entity rather than the person they were, their individual selves completely lost in the process. This one’s certainly going on my list. My I seem to be saying that to most of your picks, but they truly are interesting themes.
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I’d be really interested to know how you find this Mallika, given your academic reading. Olga Trask is definitely a horrible character, but she’s not one dimensional. Really pleased you’re finding the novellas interesting, they’ve definitely been compelling reads for me.
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A tricky subject to handle well, and one that often gets brushed under the carpet.
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It does, which is ridiculous really – we have an aging population and if we’re lucky we’ll make it to old age ourselves, so need to think about how we care for older people and how we want to be cared for. I’d really like to see more open discussion around it (and better funding).
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Sounds very good, Madame B – care of the elderly is such a knotty subject, one which I’m dealing with at the moment, and it needs to be addressed by governments big time. After all, we’re all living longer nowadays…
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Absolutely Kaggsy. I can’t believe how the need for services is so disregarded when they’re so needed, and going to be more so. I hope you get everything sorted without too much stress, it’s so hard.
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Oh this sounds excellent, I already love the sound of Mama King’s voice. This is definitely a novella that would resonate with many as these concerns about how to care for ageing people is as big a problem as it has ever been. This one will be going on to my ever growing must buy list.
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Mama King is such a great character, I really loved her voice. I hope you enjoy this Ali!
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Having looked her up, I’m a bit ashamed of never having heard of Beryl Gilroy before! As all your commenters have said, care of the elderly is such a difficult problem, especially since the ratio of old to young has changed so dramatically.
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I know, I hadn’t heard of her either and she’s so remarkable! I’m sure some of my teachers would have met her, they were teaching in London at the same time.
Care of the elderly is going to be a more and more pressing issue for sure. I wish more would be done rather than pretending it’s not happening.
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Gosh, sounds like a really interesting read about such a difficult topic.
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It really was, I really want to explore Beryl Gilroy more now.
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