Told from the perspective of Rose, an elderly woman with dementia, All the Words We Know is an unusual literary mystery.

When Rose learns her Scrabble partner has fallen to her death, she is sure that it is no accident but can’t quite recall why. It has something to do with the golden Scare Manager and the Angry Nurse, and perhaps her son’s dirty bottom and the password he needs. To make sense of what is wrong, Rose must sort through the present and the past, the understood and the unknown, the remembered and forgotten.

With a clever use of language, Nash draws the reader into Rose’s world as she roams the halls of the aged care facility. The narrative is surprisingly playful, humour deftly tempers the sharp-edged pangs of loss and frustration. Muddled words and puns add a layer of lightness, even absurdity at times. Moments of lucidity fade into the labyrinth of forgetting, so that parts of the narrative feel circular, but Rose slowly makes progress. We get glimpses of the truth that Rose is searching for, but as an unreliable narrator, it’s often as murky for us as it is for her.

I admire what Nash has accomplished with this unique novel. All the Words We Know, is clever, poignant, and entertaining. ( )

Rose is a former teacher, in her 80s, who lives in an aged care home. Her regular visitors are a daughter who only has time to water pot plants in Rose’s bath, and a son who pays for his mum’s room from her account, because he has the Power of Eternal. And she has two granddaughters, Felicity and Charity. Or is it Chastity? Or even Electricity and Chutney?
Rose’s main problem is she doesn’t remember to forget. Or does she? And is that why one of her favorite flowers is the Myosotis scorpioides, better known as the forget-me-not?
But Rose is convinced that there’s something mysterious about the death of her friend who lived in a nearby room and, to solve the problem, she has to rekindle memories.
Author Bruce Nash has crafted a brilliant novel, one that will have readers laughing and crying simultaneously. His word play is brilliant throughout and the story rolls along with puns and jokes.
In the end, it lives through the creation of the unforgettable Rosie, a character readers will remember for years. ( )