November will be National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month and National Caregiver month. In the United States, there are more than 15 million Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers, making this subject relevant to many in your community. In anticipation of your November programming, here are four authors whose books concern Alzheimer’s and the family members that must learn to care for their loved ones:
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The film adaptation of Dr. Lisa Genova’s Still Alice has swept the award season this year, earning top honors for star Julianne Moore, and bringing much-deserved attention to those affected by Alzheimer’s Disease. Still Alice has brought the reality of Alzheimer’s to life for millions of readers and fans of the movie, and proven that literature can continue these important conversations. November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month and National Caregiver month. In the United States, there are more than 15 million Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers, making this topic relevant to many in your community. Here are four authors whose books include themes around Alzheimer’s, and the family members that learn to care for their loved one.
Lisa Genova – Still Alice
Alice Howland is only 50 years old when she finds herself facing early onset Alzheimer’s. The shift in her reality, from a successful academic job to her relationships with her family, forces her to live for the moments she has left. Lisa Genova is a Harvard educated neuroscientist whose literary work focuses on the mysteries of the brain. In addition to Alzheimer’s, Dr. Genova has written about traumatic brain injury (Left Neglected), Autism (Love Anthony), and her forthcoming novel will take on Huntington’s Disease (Inside the O’Briens). Not only is she an expert in her field and a talented novelist, she’s also a generous and engaging speaker.
Matthew Thomas – We Are Not Ourselves
We Are Not Ourselves is a multigenerational debut novel about an Irish-American family, the American Dream and perseverance through difficult times. Eileen Tumulty grew up in an Irish Immigrant household in Queens, New York, and longed to experience the domestic bliss and economic prosperity that captured many American hearts after WWII. But when her husband Ed is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, the loss of family bonds, a life’s hard work, and cherished memories takes an emotional, physical and financial toll on the family. As the years pass an inescapable darkness enters their lives and as a family, they try desperately to hold together a semblance of the reality they have known. Thomas’ novel is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, and the ultimately triumphant power of love over our worst adversities.
Alice LaPlante’s – Turn of Mind
A retired orthopedic surgeon with dementia learns her best friend has been killed and as the prime suspect, she herself doesn’t know whether she did it or not. Turn of Mind takes the reader through a maze of uncertainty as the mind disintegrates and holds onto bits of reality through anger, frustration, shame and unspeakable loss. Throughout the thrilling novel, Turn of Mind examines the deception and frailty of memory and how it defines our very existence. John Daniel – Looking After: A Son’s Memoir
 A memoir about the nature of memory, identity, aging and the tenacity of family throughout his mother’s last years, Daniel explores his uneasy role as a caregiver. His frank struggles with guilt, embarrassment, and anger as his mother succumbs to the ravages of Alzheimer’s, illuminate his personal experience in a way that offers solace and encouragement to the children of aging parents. Daniel delves into his own story in a passionate attempt to remember – for her and for himself – the remarkable history of their lives.
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