Way Beyond Bingo

Way Beyond Bingo by the Hanson Sisters is a story about everyday life, the end of life—and longings at the end of life. It is a story of what we do when comfortable routines no longer work, when desires become more immediate, when we really want a cup of coffee more than world peace. This can happen in any given place or any given time. This place, in this story, happens to be a nursing home. Whispering Pines Convalescent Hospital in San Francisco is home to various residents with varying degrees of impairment, cared for by nursing assistants with variations of the name Rose, an OCD social worker, visiting schoolchildren, musicians, and an odd priest. At the center of this microcosm is Annie Diamond, Activities Director, keeper of the cultural flame, and pretty much everything else. She reminds people that they are alive. Annie is happy. She likes her life, likes her job, and likes her routine. It works for her. The comfortable routine becomes less comfortable when Buck appears, a shadowy old man Annie first interprets as an ocular migraine. The strange and dark begin to twist the routine. A neighborhood schoolgirl is hit by a car. The familiar San Francisco fog reverses direction, sinking heavily over Pine Street, and begins to swirl into the nursing home. The residents become agitated, then weirdly unresponsive. Residents who have died are back, unsure of where they are wanted, but longing . . . for a cup of coffee . . . or a bag of chips . . . or existential meaning. As the ominous becomes the daily routine, Annie reluctantly concludes that it is up to her to figure out what is now needed, and now wanted, and by whom.

The Hanson Sisters, Mary Hanson and Jane Vanvig, have worked in long-term care facilities as well as written children's stories, operated wellness centers, designed clothing, and dabbled in politics. They live in San Francisco and New Mexico respectively where they are snarky all day. This is their first novel.