Mr. Scobie's Riddle

Mr Scobie's arrival at the nursing home of St Christopher and St Jude-and into the clutches of Matron Hyacinth Price-is accidental. Self educated and still preserving the gist of idyllic memeory and wish, Mr Scobie stands apart from the others. For long term resident and eccentric, Miss Hailey, he represents a kindred spirit; for Matron Price-a lady of questionable practices-the latest victim...
But unwittingly Mr Scobie has some recourse-his very simple riddle. Its answer-an ancient commonplace-jolts Matron Price.
Yet it is Mr Scobie's nephew, Hartley, and the group of nocturnal poker players, who ultimately change Matron Price's establishment.

Elizabeth Jolley (1923-2007) is one of Australia’s most celebrated writers, with a formidable international reputation, and during the 1980s and 1990s was widely acclaimed with a wide readership in the U. S. Born in England in 1923, she was brought up in a strict, German-speaking household and attended a Quaker boarding school. She became a nurse, married, and with three children moved to Western Australia in 1959. Although she wrote all her life, it was not until she was in her fifties that her books started to receive the recognition they deserved. Her work won every major award in Australia, and was several times selected as a New York Times Notable Book. Excerpts from her novels (including Cabin Fever, Book 2 in the Trilogy) were published in The New Yorker. Her novels include The Sugar Mother, Foxybaby, Miss Peabody's Inheritance, and Mr. Scobie's Riddle. Elizabeth Jolley died in 2007.