Frances Hall has written a lively memoir that is a reflective look at her life, with hearty helpings of humour. She isn’t a celebrity or household name, but she’s someone who has lived an extraordinary ‘ordinary’ life.
While Frances’ memoir is roughly chronologically, it doesn’t tell you everything about her life in minute detail, but rather the best and worst, and lessons learned. She talks about being a country kid with lofty aspirations, but how she is still waiting for her ‘adoring audience.’ France talks about marriage and being a solo mum of four children, where on planet solo mother, they existed on leftovers. ‘In fact, I think I ate leftovers for years, never remembering what the original meal was.’
Frances talks about her various careers, which include bun-running, journalism, radio presentations and tour leading. She has lived in the USA and has travelled to Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, to name just a few.
I loved her conversation on a flight to Santiago, where she managed to mangle the language, so instead of saying she had four children, she told the person she had four boyfriends. There is a lovely story about an encounter with woman and her family in Cuba, which developed into a long friendship. Frances talks about paying to put a bathroom in their house but says ‘this pales in comparison with what she’s given me out of her meagre resources.’
There is loads of wisdom in this book! I like when Frances says she aims to be one of the ‘balcony folk,’ who live on the top of life and encourage everyone to join them as they accentuate the good. She doesn’t encourage people to be ‘basement dwellers’ whinging about everything.
Scatterlogial Wisdom is a delight to read. Frances Hall has written about her life with humour and grace, in a way that embraces how messy and unpredictable real-life can be. This down-to-earth memoir is scattered with pearls of wisdom that will resonate with many readers.
Reviewer: Karen McMillan
Published by Wild Side Publishing