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A story of dementia, love and dogs.
When her father was struggling with living alone after being widowed for a second time, the author persuaded him to move to live with her so she could care for him in his old age. After his subsequent diagnosis with dementia, she had to learn to become a different sort of carer in order to cope with the bizarre manifestations of the illness. This memoir covers the final six years of her father’s life, allowing the reader to share the challenges, traumas and tears, as well as love and laughter. Along the way, the nature and reliability of memory is examined.
'Heartbreaking, beautiful writing – natural and unpretentious. It’s profound with no reaching after profundity – and marvellously complex and alive’– Tessa Hadley, author of Free Love
‘Never mawkish or straining for sympathy. Shows the surrealism and ‘non-sense’ of dementia without ever seeming sensational or alarming. I really believe this book will help others to cope in similar situations’ – Joe Roberts
‘Begins quietly and slowly gathers power and speed, like the dementia it describes. I simply could not stop reading it… In the end it’s about being there and giving love that counts’ – Maggie Gee, author of The Ice People
