Alzheimer’s: A Love Story

Vivienne Ulman

'A beautifully written, bittersweet memoir … A gorgeous book.'

Readings Monthly

'The author writes beautifully about mind and identity and obligation.'

Sunday Telegraph

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'What a powerful, rewarding book this is. The author give us an unflinching insight into her mother’s descent into Alzheimer’s disease and the myriad battles, humiliations, false moments of hope and hours of despair that accompany this soul destroying condition ... Everyone with any involvement with Alzheimer’s, whether personal or professional, can only benefit from reading, and absorbing, this outstanding book.'

Bookseller & Publisher

When the last of Vivienne Ulman’s four children left home, she and her husband were poised to enjoy their freedom. Then, her mother’s Alzheimer’s intervened.

In Alzheimer’s: A Love Story, Ulman records with tender lyricism and searing honesty the progress of her mother’s Alzheimer’s, her own grief over the gradual loss of her beloved mother, and the way in which her parents’ enduring love for each other sustained them.

Into this she weaves an account of her family’s history, in particular her father’s rise from farm boy to confidant of prime ministers — achievements made possible by the loving strength of the woman by his side. In a reversal of roles, he amply returned this support.

This inspiring Australian story is a tale for the sandwich generation, squeezed on one side by concerns for their children and on the other by anxiety about their parents. It is about illness, grief, and hardship, but it is also about love, determination, and joy.

'A beautifully written, bittersweet memoir … A gorgeous book.'

Readings Monthly

'The author writes beautifully about mind and identity and obligation.'

Sunday Telegraph

View all reviews

Details

Format:Paperback

Size:

Extent:224pp

ISBN (13):9781921640001

RRP:$32.99

Pub date:26 Oct 2009

Rights Held: World

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AUTHOR

Vivienne Ulman

Vivienne Ulman is a prize-winning short-story writer, a freelance journalist, and book reviewer. She divides her time between rural Tasmania and urban Melbourne.