The author is American, trained in neuroscience, and has devoted her career to studying depression, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's.
In her debut novel—moving and delicate yet unflinching in its realism—she tells the story of Alice, a psychology professor at a prestigious university, married to a chemistry professor, mother of three. As memory slips away, as she loses her way on familiar streets, as words vanish mid-sentence during a lecture, Alice watches her rich inner life crumble. But when Alzheimer's diagnosis comes, she meets it with extraordinary courage and resolve.
One of the book's most powerful moments is a lecture Alice delivers to a packed auditorium of colleagues and students—her anxious husband and children in the front row—where she tries to explain what is happening to her.
"I hope to offer some insight into what it means to live with this disease. Soon, even as I know what this feels like, I won't be able to tell you. Don't erase us from your lives. Don't be afraid. Help us."
This is a novel everyone should read. It will change how you speak about memory, about illness, about the fragility we all share. You'll finish it transformed.
M. B., 2010