Review:
This is a very moving, gentle story. It is two, almost three stories woven together. Abel is an elderly man living on his own, reflecting on his past. His twin brother and sister-in-law, who he had an affair with in their younger days are now dead and their daughter - who he believes to be his own daughter -has been missing for 21 years.
Hundreds of miles away lives Seth who is 15 years old and coping with his mother, Jamie, who has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's at the age of 39.
The story is beautifully written and very touching. Young Seth really raises out sympathies trying to cope with being a teenager without his mother. It is his devotion to her and his need to investigate the causes of her illness that bring the story together. He hacks into the computer system of the researcher who is working on familial early-onset Alzheimer's and gets the names of the sufferers and then sets out to visit them. Having teenagers myself I could well imagine this would be the tactic they would use. I thought some of this part of the book was unnecessarily technical with lots of genetic codes. The explanation of how the mutation started was interesting and I wonder if it was based on fact.
Abel is a real character. The old ramshackle house he lives in was once a large working farm with many acres of land. Over the years he has sold the land to developers and is now surrounded by ‘MacMansions' that he rides through on his trusty horse, Iona, much to the disgust of the new neighbours. He is very eccentric and almost entirely recluse. I loved Abel and wanted to cheer when he stood up for himself.
The third story is a fantasy about the make-believe land of Isadora which Abel, Jamie and Seth were all told of as children. To be honest I didn't feel this thread gave any more to the story, though part of the tale is that in Isadora everything is forgotten, much like with Alzheimer's.
This book is not like any other I have read, parts of Abel's story reminded me of Mary Lawson and Seth seemed a very typical teenager. I did feel in parts the story wasn't cohesive enough and seemed to go off at a tangent, but on the other hand I enjoyed the quite complex plot and although I guessed the end before it was revealed, I don't think it was meant to be a surprise.
There would be plenty for reading groups to discuss, rural development, early Alzheimer's, genetic research, family break-ups and much more.
Hundreds of miles away lives Seth who is 15 years old and coping with his mother, Jamie, who has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's at the age of 39.
The story is beautifully written and very touching. Young Seth really raises out sympathies trying to cope with being a teenager without his mother. It is his devotion to her and his need to investigate the causes of her illness that bring the story together. He hacks into the computer system of the researcher who is working on familial early-onset Alzheimer's and gets the names of the sufferers and then sets out to visit them. Having teenagers myself I could well imagine this would be the tactic they would use. I thought some of this part of the book was unnecessarily technical with lots of genetic codes. The explanation of how the mutation started was interesting and I wonder if it was based on fact.
Abel is a real character. The old ramshackle house he lives in was once a large working farm with many acres of land. Over the years he has sold the land to developers and is now surrounded by ‘MacMansions' that he rides through on his trusty horse, Iona, much to the disgust of the new neighbours. He is very eccentric and almost entirely recluse. I loved Abel and wanted to cheer when he stood up for himself.
The third story is a fantasy about the make-believe land of Isadora which Abel, Jamie and Seth were all told of as children. To be honest I didn't feel this thread gave any more to the story, though part of the tale is that in Isadora everything is forgotten, much like with Alzheimer's.
This book is not like any other I have read, parts of Abel's story reminded me of Mary Lawson and Seth seemed a very typical teenager. I did feel in parts the story wasn't cohesive enough and seemed to go off at a tangent, but on the other hand I enjoyed the quite complex plot and although I guessed the end before it was revealed, I don't think it was meant to be a surprise.
There would be plenty for reading groups to discuss, rural development, early Alzheimer's, genetic research, family break-ups and much more.
Reviewed by:
Fiona Atley 
