THE THINGS WE KEEP (Love Never Forgets) by Sally Hipworth

Finished Su 8/20/17 The August 2017 selection for the Contemporary Book Club

(Today is the Great American Eclipse- Mo 21, 2017)

Two parallel stories basically set at Rosalind House, an assisted living facility.

Love story between Luke and Anna  Forster. She is only 38 and suffering for early onset Alzheimer's, and he has a condition where he will lose the facility to form words and communicate.

The story of Eve Bennett and her five year old daughter, Clementine. Her husband had been convicted or investment fraud and he committed suicide. Eve is a trained chef and takes a job as cook and cleaner at Rosalind and works there so that Clem can continue in her old elementary school.

Moral Dilemma- Should the lovers be left alone or should they be separated because neither one fully understands or appreciates their actions. Love Prevails.

NOTES-

Clar and Laurie- a southern couple of advanced age

Richard- husband of Eve and father of Clem

Eric- Corrupt manager of Rosalind. At the end of the novel he is replaced for 'cooking the books'.

Jack and Helen- Jack is Anna's twin brother and Helen is his wife. They have three boys and Anna was very close to Ethan. Jack is a lawyer and he has power of attorney over Anna. It was his decision that Anna should be committed.

Fondue Incident- Anna was making a melted cheese treat for Ethan. The pot began to burn, but Anna could not remember the way to the kitchen. Ethan was burned rather severely on the cheek. This made Anna realize that her time of independent living was over.

Aiden- The motorcycle riding ex-husband of Anna. She leaves this man as soon as she realizes that she has Alzheimer's. She felt that she was saving him from heartache, yet maybe not. This dilemma was not really developed, although this split led to the love affair between Anna and Luke.

Angus- The gardener at Rosalind and he becomes Eve's boyfriend. Disturbing to Clem- at first.

Sarah- Luke's sister. She is very much in favor of Anna and Luke's relationship. She believes that her husband is a good guy and had many women friends. He would never dream of taking advantage of a woman regardless of her mental capacity.

May- Turns one hundred; the oldest client at Rosalind

Bert- The old crank with the imaginary wife, Myrna. Bert befriends Clem and she learns to 'bring up' her dead father, but decides that she must 'let him go' and deal with people in the real world. Bert begins to understand this as well.

Gwen- A stocky old woman who has taken a shine to Bert. He rejects her because of his wife, but this relationship probably grows.

FACT-

Positive diagnosis of Alzheimer's can only be made at the autopsy.  Anna thinks that this is funny. What if they find out after she has died that she really didn't have the condition.

Depth perception is the first to go in the arch of Alzheimer's.

Enid is Clara's sister and she was originally with Laurie when they were teenagers. Clara feels that after all the decades of marriage, she has 'taken' Enid from Laurie. Clara is diagnosed with terminal breast cancer and wants to reunite the two. Laurie feels that Clara was and is the only love of his life.

The book was a kind of 'light read' and I liked the story. I wish there was more about Luke's mental situation. He is largely ignored.

From the author's page at wikipedia-

"Sally Hepworth is a writer based in Melbourne, Australia. She is the author of three books, most notably The Secrets of Midwives, a novel she published in 2015.[1] Hepworth and her works have been featured in media outlets that have included USA Today, The New York Times, and The Sydney Morning Herald."


"Hepworth worked in both event management and Human Resources prior to her career as a writer. While on maternity leave with her first child, Hepworth wrote Love Like the French, a novel about a British woman who goes to France after an accident leaves her husband in a coma. The character goes to France to see what the French could teach her about living. Hepworth was unable to finish the book immediately after her son Oscar was born, but the book was eventually published in Germany in 2014.

Hepworth released a second book, The Secrets of Midwives, that she wrote while pregnant with her second child. The book was released in 2015 and is a novel about three generations of midwives. Her research for the book came from her own questioning of midwives during check-ups and reading fiction and nonfiction books on the subject. KJ Dell'Antonia from The New York Times called it a "fast and fun read," with other reviews of the book coming by way of Publishers Weekly, The Sydney Morning Herald, and Kirkus Reviews.

Hepworth's third book, The Things We Keep, is scheduled for release in early 2016."


I saw a joke by Jerry Seinfeld about Alzheimer's on Youtube.
Comedian is hired to entertain at an Alzheimer's facility. He tells the same joke, over and over again, and brings down the house. At the end of the show, a man comes up to the comedian and asks, "How do you remember all that"?