Excerpt from Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"I just thought I saw someone we used to know," I said, into the china. "Can't remember his name."

"Oh, I wonder who it might be. Someone from school? From the factory?"

I swallowed another mouthful of tea. "Not sure. Can't place him."

"I'm sure I'll be able to." Elsie inspected the empty courtyard through the glass. "I've always been better at faces than you."

She was the only one left. The only one who would know if my mind had finally wandered away and left me all to my own devices. But sixty years ago, we'd packed up the past, and parceled it away, and promised ourselves we'd never speak of it again. Now we were old. Now we were different people, and it felt as though everything we went through had happened to someone else, and we had just stood and watched it all from the future.

She tried to see a little further into the darkness. "I do hope I spot him as well."

"Me too," I said, into the cup.

Excerpted from Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon. Copyright © 2018 by Joanna Cannon. Excerpted by permission of Scribner. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.