Shared Stories from Daughters of Alzheimer's: Writing a Path to Peace [Paperback]

Persis R. Granger (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The eleven contributors to this anthology hail from sites across the United States, Colorado, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Florida, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont and New York. Each of these women has experienced the loss of a loved one to Alzheimer's disease.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Writers Club Press (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059522119X
• ISBN-13: 978-0595221196
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,538,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Persis Granger fell in love with the Lake George region of the Adirondack Mountains when she and her husband moved there with their two daughters in the 1970s, "stumbling," as she says, "into subsistence farming." Beginning on a 7 acre "farmette," as realtors in that back-to-the-land era liked to call them, the Grangers soon sought more land and moved to a 160 acre farm in the mountain town of Thurman. The small community and its history captivated her, and she set her two young adult novels there, centering them around an appealing young man named Hollis Ingraham. With an emphasis first on an engaging story, the books also give insights into 19th century farm and community life and the all-necessary work ethic. Reviewers have highly commended her writing and research in "Adirondack Gold" and "Adirondack Gold II: A Summer of Strangers". Her daughter Laurel Granger Nittinger, illustrated the books, and daughter Robin Granger did the copy editing.

Granger took time out from her novel-writing to coordinate and contribute to the writing of "Shared Stories from Daughters of Alzheimer's: Writing a Path to Peace," an anthology of accounts by ten women about the loss a parent to this dementia. The book has been dubbed "a support group in print." She freelances for many magazines, including "Adirondack Life," "Adirondack Guest Informer," and "EcoLocal Living."

Persis Granger finds the community of writers to be a wellspring of energy and inspiration. She organizes events for writers, including the Adirondack Mountain Writers' Retreat, The St. George Island (FL) Writers' Retreat for Women and occasional one-day workshops. She organizes and co-hosts monthly readings by regional authors at Willows Bistro in Warrensburg, NY. She welcomes emailed inquiries about any of these opportunites, as well as requests for author visits and signings.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A moving and inspiring resource on Alzheimer's, April 15, 2009

By 

S V SWAMY "swamy-reviews" (Hyderabad, India) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shared Stories from Daughters of Alzheimer's: Writing a Path to Peace (Paperback)

This book is a collection of personal stories shared by daughters of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The shock, the anger, the grief, the stress etc. are brought out with sincerity and honesty by the different authors. The editing by Persis R. Granger is by and large excellent and the book is highly readable (though my sharp eye caught some slips, they won't interfere with the reading). The book is not easy to read because of the emotions that are shared but is a valuable addition to the growing literature on Alzheimer's disease, a progressive and as of today incurable form of dementia, whose final diagnosis can only be made through a postmortem!

More and more people are becoming victims of Alzheimer's (partly because of increasing life span) and caring for them when they fail to recognize themselves and their care givers is no easy task. Relationships get affected apart from financial difficulties. Sending the person to an institution for care is one of the toughest decisions and the stories give an intimate look at the emotional trauma of the care givers. The book is thus moving at many places. In a country like India, where elders are supposed to be taken care of by children and there is no real infrastructure for their separate living, the relationships are affected severely due to the stress and strain of chronic illness and consequent burden on the care givers. Some of the stories in the book will thus strike a chord for such readers too!

Though the book focuses on Alzheimer's, any chronic illness that makes the person dependent on others causes similar problems and thus the book would be relevant to patients and caregivers of other chronic and debilitating diseases.

The book has a foreword by Pat Jimison, an introduction by Kathleen Adams and resources section at the end. However, alternative, holistic treatment options if any are left out and it is hoped that the future editions and a website will carry such information (as of now there is no specific website for the book). A lot of research on the role of antioxidants and herbs in delaying the onset of or improvement of Alzheimer's is now coming up and the book / website could have covered that.

I went through many emotions as I was reading this book since my own mother passed away in 2003 at the age of 89 and I felt (and feel even now) that I could have been a better son as far as her care is concerned. Her presence in the house was not stress free and many times I felt helpless! Journaling as suggested in the book is a good and effective way of coming to terms with the emotions that one cannot process immediately.

I recommend this book to all caregivers and even to chronic patients to give them an idea of the life ahead for those in early stages of Alzheimer's.