Scottish broadcaster and author, Sally Magnusson, cared with her two sisters for her mother, Mamie, during her long struggle with dementia, until her death in 2012. This moving and honest account of losing a loved one day by day to an insidious disease is both deeply personal and a challenging call to arms. Faced with one of the greatest social, medical, economic and moral challenges of our times, society must urgently reconsider how we look after the most fragile of our citizens.
'This book began as an attempt to hold on to my witty, storytelling mother with the one thing I had to hand - words. Then, as the enormity of the social crisis we were part of began to dawn, I wrote with the thought that other forgotten lives - dehumanised and rendered invisible by a society that has no idea how to deal with longevity - might be nudged into the light along with hers. Dementia is one of the greatest social, medical, economic, scientific, philosophical and moral challenges of our times. I am a reporter. It became the biggest story of my life.' Sally Magnusson
When we think of heroism, we tend to think of acts of physical bravery, but this is a book about a different kind of heroism. Regarded as one of the finest journalists of her generation, Mamie Baird Magnusson's whole life was a celebration of words - words that she fought to retain in the teeth of a disease which is fast becoming the scourge of the modern world.
Married to Magnus Magnusson, they had five children of whom the author, Sally, is the eldest. As well as chronicling the sadness, the loneliness and the unexpected laughs and joys of accompanying her beloved mother on the long road of dementia, Sally seeks understanding from a range of experts and asks penetrating questions about how we treat older people.
This is an extraordinary memoir and manifesto in one searingly beautiful narrative.
