A charming collection of illustrated short stories by an award-winning author, The Memory Box is a great gift for those who are carers or living with memory loss. The simple narratives encourage activities which can reawaken past memories, bringing the welcome relief of calmness and peace, in a sometimes confusing world.
Written with compassion and humour, these stories will appeal to those affected directly or indirectly by cognitive impairment, as well as those who enjoy a comforting read – maybe before dropping off to sleep. The words Alzheimer’s or dementia do not appear in the stories.
The opening story, The Inner Voice, won the National Memory Day 2017 Short Story Competition in the Primary Carer’s Voice category, sponsored by The Alzheimer’s Society. Sarah has also been short-listed in the Living With Dementia magazine 2017 Poetry Competition.
What the judge said about The Inner “I really liked the way the author has tackled the subject, the way she introduced and developed the richness of the characters, the twists in the story. I thought it was realistic in its portrayal of Freda and her dementia without slipping into the negative traps which writers often do.”
Sarah Veness is a writer who is motivated by her own life events to encourage and inform people about dementia and memory issues. As someone who cares for a friend with Early Onset Alzheimer’s and also lives with memory loss herself, she can express the viewpoint of carers and those in a similar position to her own.
This book is also available in large print format and on Kindle.
I really enjoyed reading the stories in this book and hope very much that Sarah continues to write. As I read them I found myself comparing them very favourably with the Scotland Street stories of Alexander McCall Smith. Sarah has developed her characters in a very charming way and the stories are a joy to read. I look forward very much to the next instalment.
Well written with a humorous look at short term memory loss i would recommend this book to all who live with this and all who know family or friends whos memory is beginning to fade