This is a tale of Betty Rankin who on the eve of her hundredth birthday tells us all about her life.

Betty is born into a large poverty-stricken family whose stoic mother dies after giving birth to the tenth child. Her family barely survives with their errant alcoholic father. During WW2 she’s sent away to the country. From here on we are given a snapshot of her life throughout the decades of many highs and even more lows when she navigates to the other side of the world as a ten-pound pom.

This is a very easy read as Oswald quickly establishes the character of Betty in the early pages so that the reader feels a strong enough connection to care about her and her eventful life. I couldn’t put it down as I feared and hoped for her while admiring her courage and tenacity under all obstacles.

This is also a story of friendship and gives the reader pause to reflect on how important our own friendships are along the journey of life. Indeed, the love for her friends is what kept her going.

The writing is witty and smart told in a memoir-like fashion from Betty’s point of view. She’s funny, plucky and the mistakes she makes aren’t judged too harshly except by herself. She stands up for what she feels is right and tries to make a difference for herself and the world she navigates.

Themes of friendship, family, grief, trauma, indigenous rights, feminism, politics and love all feature in Betty’s commentary reflecting the history of the times as we stroll through the decades with her.

I found though the narrative waned a little towards the end by the telling rather than the showing. At times I began to wonder if the narrator was indeed a ninety-nine-year-old because her adventures in her eighties seemed a little far-fetched. But I caught myself as I recalled an aunt of mine who had indeed bucked the ageist stereotype by doing extraordinary things. It made me look at my own biases about what we think of our elderly and what we expect they should be like. Perhaps it’s a message that age is no barrier, only our thinking is.

This one is a very enjoyable read so check it out.