Conversations with My Mother: A Novel of Dementia on the Maine Coast - Softcover

Gilbert, Ronald-Stéphane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1578691818 ISBN 13: 9781578691814

Publisher: Rootstock Publishing, 2024

Synopsis

Distinguished Favorite, New Fiction, 2025 Independent Press Award

Hawthorne Prize Finalist (Fiction), 2025 American Writing Award

Finalist, General Fiction, 2025 International Book Award

Finalist, Northeast Regional Fiction, 2025 National Indie Excellence Award

Honorable Mention, General Fiction, 2025 London Book Festival

The memory of who we are survives in those we love. In Conversations with My Mother: a Novel of Dementia on the Maine Coast, an elderly, good-hearted Francophone struggles with dementia as her small town succumbs to real-estate development. Focused on her relationship with her acerbic caregiver daughter and peripatetic businessman son, the novel examines the siblings' attempts to cope with their mother's deepening decline and the impending sale of the family property to underwrite her care. A first-person present narrative with a strong sense of place that draws parallels between the beleaguered heroine's persistent kindness and the embattled Maine coast's enduring beauty, the book is as much about gain as it is about loss, and, ultimately, is more about hope than regret.

About this title

About the Author

A native French-speaker, Ronald-Stéphane Gilbert resides in suburban Cleveland with his wife, Leah, and their aged Pekingese, Reggie. "Conversations with My Mother" is his first published novel.

Edition details

• Publisher: Rootstock Publishing
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1578691818
• ISBN 13: 9781578691814
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 324