Review: The Last Voyage of Mrs Henry Parker
Gaby Meares
I have loved several other novels written by Joanna Nell. This book is harder to love. Mrs Henry Parker, or Evelyn to her friends, has lived her whole life on cruise ships with her beloved husband Henry who is a ship’s doctor. They are now enjoying their twilight years aboard the Golden Sunset. However, Evelyn seems to have lost Henry.
Evelyn regales her new friends Nola and Frank with the story of how she and Henry met on board a ship from England, bound for Australia in 1953, and then went on to spend the rest of their lives at sea. Nell’s own experience as a ship’s doctor gives the book a real sense of authenticity. As she says in her acknowledgements, this novel is ‘a tribute to all ships’ doctors and nurses, the unsung heroes and heroines’.
It is obvious that Evelyn is suffering from dementia. This is extremely sad as she struggles to put names to faces, and often loses track of time, turning up for breakfast in her evening dress on one occasion. I find it difficult to believe that a woman with such advanced alzheimer’s would be allowed to wander around unattended on a cruise ship. And that’s the plot, in essence: Evelyn wandering the ship, looking for Henry.
That being said, Nell, as always, writes about getting old with compassion and empathy. As Evelyn says, getting old ‘ is as inevitable as the weather, and just as unpredictable. Like the weather, it could be forecast but not controlled. Best to be prepared, but go ahead with the picnic regardless. When it came to ageing, the best you could do was to carry an umbrella. And a life jacket.’