The Things We Keep in Love Never Forgets

Jun 06, 2015 Sally Hepworth added it · (Review from the author)

Dear Reader,

Five years ago, I watched a news segment about a woman—a newlywed—who was pregnant with her first child. She had also recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 31 years old.

More recently a friend of mine, who is a nurse at a dementia facility, told me about an elderly man and woman who held hands in the communal living area of the center every day. They came into the facility as strangers. Their memories were less than five minutes long. They were both non-verbal. Yet ...more

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Oct 09, 2015 Figgy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: one-hundred-percent-rock-reviews, publisher-pan-macmillan, arc-or-netgalley, review-copy, reviewed

Actual Rating 3.5

Anna Forster, in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease at only thirty-eight years of age, is checking into Rosalind House. It’s the best way to make ensure that she gets the proper care when she no longer remembers how to care for herself. It’s the best way to stop being a burden and a danger to her brother’s family. And she doesn’t plan to live that much longer, anyway.

Most people who want to kill themselves can wake up and decide, You know what? Today’s not the day. If I fee

Actual Rating 3.5

Anna Forster, in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease at only thirty-eight years of age, is checking into Rosalind House. It’s the best way to make ensure that she gets the proper care when she no longer remembers how to care for herself. It’s the best way to stop being a burden and a danger to her brother’s family. And she doesn’t plan to live that much longer, anyway.

Most people who want to kill themselves can wake up and decide, You know what? Today’s not the day. If I feel terrible tomorrow, I’ll do it then. Or the day after. Maybe next year. But the thing about having Alzheimer’s is that you’re a ticking clock. You don’t have the luxury of waiting. You have to beat the bomb.

But then she meets Luke.

‘Have you met our Luke?’ Clara asks, tipping her head towards the young guy opposite her. Somehow, I’d completely missed him. All at once I realise Clara wasn’t talking about herself when she mentioned another young person. She was talking about the other person like me.
‘I don’t think so,’ I say, ‘which means it’s entirely possible.’
With his head down, he chuckles. I’m pleased to note he’s not so far gone that he can’t appreciate a little dementia humour.

He has early onset Alzheimer’s, too, though it affects his speech before his memories, but regardless of that he’s showing Anna that life isn’t over yet.

A few months ago, presented with the knowledge that life wasn’t going to be what I’d planned, I wanted to check out, close the book. But now, it’s like suddenly I’ve found a few more pages. And it feels like, against all likelihood, the last chapter might be the best one of all. The last chapter, in fact, might be something great.

Even though she can’t remember his name and thinks of him only as Young Guy most of the time.

Fifteen months later, Eve begins working as the cook/cleaner at Rosalind House. Her life has recently fallen apart, and she’s trying to hold it together as best she can for her young daughter.

I wish there were a handbook for parenting daughters whose whole world had been turned upside down in the past few months. A girl who had been having trouble at school and who, in time, would have to come to terms with the fact that her father wasn’t the man she thought he was. Then I realise I don’t need a handbook, because I already know what it would say.

She has a lot going on in her life, but she still sees the signs of something between Anna and Luke, despite their advanced deterioration, despite not being able to create new memories, despite being kept away from one another.

‘If I had dementia,’ I say, ‘or any kind of disease, I’d want the person I loved within arm’s reach as much as possible.’
Angus gives me a quizzical look. ‘I didn’t say they were in love?’
‘But it’s possible, isn’t it?’
‘I guess. But even if they loved each other once, they can’t really love each other now, can they? How can you love someone you don’t remember?’
I shrug, because I have no idea.

And she’s becoming more and more aware of the fact that life is short and you never know when it’s going to be taken from you.

I think I may be treading on thin ice, but I have to ask. ‘Any regrets?’
He frowns at me, less annoyed, more curious. And I find myself holding my breath. ‘When you get to my age,’ he says, his face softening, ‘you don’t waste time with regrets. In the end, you just remember the moments of joy. When all is said and done, those are the things we keep.’
And just like that, I let go the breath I’d been holding.

The rest of this review can be found HERE!
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Jan 02, 2016 Lisa rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016, read-library

Anna Forster, in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease at only thirty-eight years old, knows that her family is doing what they believe to be best when they take her to Rosalind House, an assisted living facility. She also knows there's just one other resident her age, Luke. What she does not expect is the love that blossoms between her and Luke even as she resists her new life at Rosalind House. As her disease steals more and more of her memory, Anna fights to hold on to what she knows, inclu ...more

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Dec 15, 2015 Laurie rated it really liked it

The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth is an eye opening adult read ... with both parents and a brother passing away from dementia/ALZ plus other illnesses, the theme will resonate with many of us especially the nursing home challenges experienced by the patients, their families and caregivers. BRAVA, a difficult subject well done!

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Nov 14, 2015 Josh Caporale rated it liked it

Here is my review for The Things We Keep, a novel about dealing with Alzheimer's and dementia that I feel does a great job in developing believable characters, even if its focus could have been a bit clearer.

http://caponomics.blogspot.com/2015/1...

#LoveNeverForgets! ...more

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Jan 09, 2016 Diane Perry rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, giveaways

I was gifted this by St. Martin's Press. I devoured this book today and went through a whole box of tissues. What a beautiful, incredible story. So moving and touching and showed so many layers of love and devotion. Absolutely loved Clementine. A great little character and charmer. Highly recommend to all my friends and fellow readers! ...more

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Dec 24, 2015 Maria Ulery rated it it was amazing

Do you ever forget something and can't remember then shrug it off? Well sometimes it's nothing but sometimes it's not. In this book Anna is only 38 but has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and eventually has to be put in an assisted living facility where she meets Luke who also has it they form a bond that others can't believe or don't want to believe! A new employee, Eve Bennett, comes to work at the asst living facility and becomes close to Anna. Eve has her monsters as she is a rec ...more

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Jan 27, 2016 Linda rated it really liked it

This is a touching and life-affirming story about love, friendship, aging, and memory. The characters are nicely developed and feel believable. There were a few instances where one of the main characters responded in a way that seemed far-fetched given her recent change in status, but otherwise the story felt real and informative.

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Aug 17, 2015 Rhonda Lomazow rated it it was amazing

A beautifully written.multi layered novel about a little known difficult subject early onset Alzheimer's.A love story a true page turner that will grip your heart&find you cheering for Anne&Luke both young both afflicted with different forms of early onset Alzheimer's .They meet at an assisted living facility fall in love.we also meet Eve who had been living the American Dream till her life crashed around her.She is hired at the facility as the cook&helper.She befriends Luke&Anne &does all she c ...more

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