Nicci Gerrard

When Marnie receives a phone call that summons her to the side of a once-beloved friend, she is wrenched from her orderly London life and sent back into a past from which she has fled but never escaped. Ralph, Marnie and Oliver once knew each other well and are still inextricably bound by ties of love and betrayal. Now they meet again in Ralph�s secluded cottage in the Scottish highlands, to spend the precious days that Ralph has left with each other. As they reminisce, Marnie is taken back to the summer years ago when everything changed between them and heartbreak and desire broke up their little group. Will Ralph have the chance to say what needs to be said before it�s too late? And can they put the devastating events of twenty years ago to rest and rekindle the intimacy they once shared?

The Winter House

To any passer-by, Eleanor Lee might be almost invisible - just another elderly lady - but beneath the surface lies a powerful secret she has kept hidden for decades . . . At the dawn of the Second World War, Eleanor is a fiercely independent young woman, determined to write her own future, rejecting marriage for passion security for adventure. But now, seventy years later, alone in her big old house, she is anxious to erase the past. Peter Mistley, a young man escaping his own ghosts, is employed to help Eleanor sort through her lifetime of possessions. For amongst them are things that her children and grandchildren must never find. Together, Eleanor and Peter uncover traces of another life - words and photographs revealing a story of forbidden love, betrayal, guilt and self-sacrifice. But by releasing her memories at last, can Eleanor still protect those who must never know the truth? Praise for Nicci Gerrard: 'Beguiling, poignant, wonderful.' Sunday Express 'Acutely observed and beautifully written.' Woman & Home

The Twilight Hour

From the award-winning journalist and author, a lyrical, raw and humane investigation of dementia that explores both the journeys of the people who live with the condition and those of their loved ones After a diagnosis of dementia, Nicci Gerrard's father, John, continued to live life on his own terms, alongside the disease. But when an isolating hospital stay precipitated a dramatic turn for the worse, Gerrard, an award-winning journalist and author, recognized that it was not just the disease, but misguided protocol and harmful practices that cause such pain at the end of life. Gerrard was inspired to seek a better course for all who suffer because of the disease. The Last Ocean is Gerrard's investigation into what dementia does to both the person who lives with the condition and to their caregivers. Dementia is now one of the leading causes of death in the West, and this necessary book will offer both comfort and a map to those walking through it. While she begins with her father's long slip into forgetting, Gerrard expands to examine dementia writ large. Gerrard gives raw but literary shape both to the unimaginable loss of one's own faculties, as well as to the pain of their loved ones. Her lens is unflinching, but Gerrard honors her subjects and finds the beauty and the humanity in their seemingly diminished states. In so doing, she examines the philosophy of what it means to have a self, as well as how we can offer dignity and peace to those who suffer with this terrible disease. Not only will it aid those walking with dementia patients, The Last Ocean will prompt all of us to think on the nature of a life well lived.

A Journey Through Memory and Forgetting

The Last Ocean

over dementie: een bijzonder lang afscheid

Woorden schieten tekort

Na een stukgelopen relatie in Italië woont Marnie weer in Londen, waar ze in een piepklein poppenmuseum werkt. Als ze op een ochtend onverwacht een telefoontje krijgt van Oliver, haar grote jeugdliefde, is dat het begin van Marnies terugkeer naar het verleden. Ralph, de gezamenlijke jeugdvriend van Marnie en Oliver, blijkt ernstig ziek. Om bij hem te kunnen zijn in deze zware periode, vertrekt Marnie naar Ralphs buitenhuis in Schotland. Hier komen de herinneringen aan haar jeugdjaren in alle hevigheid naar boven: Marnies gevoelens voor Oliver en Ralphs onbeantwoorde liefde voor Marnie. Wat is er al die jaren geleden precies gebeurd, waarom is het contact tussen de drie ooit verbroken – en kunnen ze het verleden achter zich laten? Het weerzien is een prachtig verhaal over vriendschap, liefde, loyaliteit en de kracht van herinneringen. Een psychologische roman met de suspense van een thriller.

Het weerzien

The Middle Place

'Essential reading about love, life and care' Kate Mosse 'Nobody has written on dementia as well as Nicci Gerrard in this new book' Andrew Marr 'Dementia is all around us, in our families and in our genes; perhaps in our own futures. If it's not you or me, it's someone we love.' After her own father's death from dementia, the writer and campaigner Nicci Gerrard set out to explore the illness that now touches millions of us, yet which we still struggle to speak about. What does dementia mean, for those who live with it, and those who care for them? This truthful, humane book is an attempt to understand. It is filled with stories, both moving and optimistic: from those living with dementia to those planning the end of life, from the scientists unlocking the mysteries of the brain to the therapists using art and music to enrich the lives of sufferers, from the campaigners battling for greater compassion in care to the families trying to make sense of this 'incomprehensible de-creation of the self'. It explores memory, language, identity, ageing and the notion of what it truly means to care. And it asks, how do we begin to value those who become old, invisible, forgotten? What do we owe them, and each other as humans? What, in the end, really matters?

Words Fail Us

A SUNDAY TIMES, NEW STATESMAN AND FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Essential reading about love, life and care' Kate Mosse'Nobody has written on dementia as well as Nicci Gerrard in this new book' Andrew Marr 'Dementia is all around us, in our families and in our genes; perhaps in our own futures. If it's not you or me, it's someone we love.' After her own father's death from dementia, the writer and campaigner Nicci Gerrard set out to explore the illness that now touches millions of us, yet which we still struggle to speak about. What does dementia mean, for those who live with it, and those who care for them? This truthful, humane book is an attempt to understand. It is filled with stories, both moving and optimistic: from those living with dementia to those planning the end of life, from the scientists unlocking the mysteries of the brain to the therapists using art and music to enrich the lives of sufferers, from the campaigners battling for greater compassion in care to the families trying to make sense of this 'incomprehensible de-creation of the self'. It explores memory, language, identity, ageing and the notion of what it truly means to care. And it asks, how do we begin to value those who become old, invisible, forgotten? What do we owe them, and each other as humans? What, in the end, really matters?

What Dementia Teaches Us About Love

Edie loves Ricky but her parents don't approve. At sixteen she thinks she's old enough to make her own choices, be her own person. Old enough to know what she wants from life. But when tragedy turns Edie's world upside down, she's thrown out of the comforting embrace of childhood once and for all. Twenty years later, with a young family of her own, Edie is called back home. And now she's full of questions: What happened to the people who still haunt her dreams? How long can family secrets remain hidden? And what became of the things that, at sixteen, Edie knew were true?

Things We Knew Were True

Sabine Mutsaers

Een gehuwde vrouw kijkt terug op haar leven in een poging sommige gebeurtenissen te analyseren en af te ronden, waaronder de zelfmoord van haar vader.

De onderstroom

'Later, everyone who loved Johnny Hopkins had different ways to describe how what happened changed their world.' When Isabel's son Jonny goes to university, she is bereft. Then Jonny stops returning phone calls. He doesn't reply to letters. When Jonny's father, Felix, rings the university, he finds out that Jonny is no longer there. He's no longer anywhere. But he must be somewhere - surely? This is not Jonny's story. It's the story of his mother and father. His sisters. His friends. The people who love him. The people he's left behind. It's a story about what we do when the unthinkable happens. It is also a story of coping, of hope - and of love.

Missing Persons

After her own father's death from dementia, the writer and campaigner Nicci Gerrard set out to explore the illness that now touches millions of us, yet which we still struggle to speak about. What is it to beoneself, and what is it to lose one's self. Who are we when we are not ourselves, and where do we go? This is book is an attempt to understand thorough a touching exploration of dementia, structured around the stages of the disease from the outside and, as far as possible, from the inside as well. Full of people's stories, both sad and optimistic, it is a journey into the dusk and then the darkness - and then out on to the other side, where, once someone is dead, a life can be seen whole again.

What Dementia Teaches Us about Love

'I've had this secret inside me. Your secret. You've always been good at keeping secrets.' Gaby and Connor seem to have a loving marriage - one that is built on knowing every last detail about one another, or so Gaby has always believed. While their son Ethan sets off for university, Gaby and Connor will be alone again - a chance to rediscover their relationship, just the two of them. But there is one person missing from Gaby's life - Nancy, her best friend since childhood. As teenagers they shared their deepest secrets. As adults they discovered love - Gaby with Connor and Nancy with Gaby's adored brother, Stefan. The foursome became inseparable. Then one day, Nancy upped and left. Now, almost twenty years later Gaby finds herself idly watching television when a sharp stab of recognition hits her - the face she recognizes on the screen belongs to Nancy. Suddenly, the friend she thought she'd lost for good is within her reach. But does Nancy want to be found?

The Moment You Were Gone

Irene has a husband, Adrian, three small children and - though she doesn't know it - a marriage that is going wrong. When she discovers that Adrian is having an affair, the family is blown apart. While Adrian finds new love and excitement, Irene spirals into exhaustion, self-destruction and a kind of madness.

Solace

Into the Mainstream

Gaby and Connor seem to have a loving marriage - one that is built on knowing every last intricate detail about one another, or so Gaby has always believed. When their son Ethan sets off for university, discovering for the first time, the raw and uncontrollable intensity of falling in love, Gaby and Connor will be alone again - a chance to rediscover their relationship, just the two of them. But there is one person missing from Gaby's life. One person who she cannot forgot - Nancy, her best friend since childhood. As teenagers they shared their deepest secrets, fears and dreams for the future. As adults they discovered love - Gaby with Connor and Nancy with Gaby's adored brother, Stefan. The foursome became inseparable. Then one day, Nancy upped and left. Now, almost twenty years later, with Ethan away from home, Gaby finds herself idly watching television when a sharp stab of recognition hits her - the face she recognizes on the screen belongs to Nancy. Suddenly, the friend she thought she'd lost for good is within her reach. But does Nancy want to be found? The search for her long lost friend forces Gaby not only to revisit her past, but could also shatter the course of her future . . .

One damp evening in August, two little girls went missing. For two weeks, the entire country was transfixed by their disappearance, and a shrine grew in the village where they lived. Then their naked bodies were found in a nettlefilled ditch and the caretaker of the local school was charged with their murder, his girlfriend with conspiracy. Sixteen months later, after a trial filled with unbearable detail, Ian Huntley was found guilty of murder; Maxine Carr of perverting the course of justice. The case was a detective story and a sinister fairy tale rolled into one, a narrative of loss, horror, and collective mourning, a myth which seemed to tell us something about the way we live now, and the fears we all hold. Nicci Gerrard, who sat through the entire trial, asks what we can learn from Soham, why we care so much, and whether our intense empathy actually shuts us off from other less dramatic events.

A Story of Our Times

Soham

Wanneer was het allemaal begonnen? Ze zou het nooit precies weten, al kon ze het later, als een vinger die op een kaart de brede rivier volgt tot aan het onzichtbaar dunne lijntje van zijn oorsprong, terugvoeren op een avond in het begin van de winter. Ooit waren Irene en Adrian verliefd, was één blik genoeg. Maar na jaren huwelijk, kinderen en de sleur van alledag is de glans eraf. Ze zijn vergeten waardoor ze vroeger zo verbonden waren. Hun drie jonge dochters hebben de band weliswaar vereeuwigd, maar het is anders geworden: zakelijker, praktischer. Binnen korte tijd zal er echter veel gaan veranderen in het leven van iedereen binnen dit gezin...

Ooit waren Adrian en Irene verliefd, maar de glans is er af. Waar ging het mis?

Het voorbijgaan

From the award-winning journalist and author, a lyrical, raw and humane investigation of dementia that explores both the journeys of the people who live with the condition and those of their loved ones After a diagnosis of dementia, Nicci Gerrard’s father, John, continued to live life on his own terms, alongside the disease. But when an isolating hospital stay precipitated a dramatic turn for the worse, Gerrard, an award-winning journalist and author, recognized that it was not just the disease, but misguided protocol and harmful practices that cause such pain at the end of life. Gerrard was inspired to seek a better course for all who suffer because of the disease. The Last Ocean is Gerrard’s investigation into what dementia does to both the person who lives with the condition and to their caregivers. Dementia is now one of the leading causes of death in the West, and this necessary book will offer both comfort and a map to those walking through it. While she begins with her father’s long slip into forgetting, Gerrard expands to examine dementia writ large. Gerrard gives raw but literary shape both to the unimaginable loss of one’s own faculties, as well as to the pain of their loved ones. Her lens is unflinching, but Gerrard honors her subjects and finds the beauty and the humanity in their seemingly diminished states. In so doing, she examines the philosophy of what it means to have a self, as well as how we can offer dignity and peace to those who suffer with this terrible disease. Not only will it aid those walking with dementia patients, The Last Ocean will prompt all of us to think on the nature of a life well lived.

Irene has a husband, Adrian, three small children and - though she doesn't know it - a marriage that is going wrong. When she discovers that Adrian is having an affair, the family is blown apart. Solace is a story of contrasts. While Adrian finds new love and excitement, Irene spirals into exhaustion, self-destruction and a kind of madness. With their marriage in shreds and Adrian whisking their daughters on a trip of a lifetime ti Australia with his new lover, Irene finally reaches rock bottom. She decides to leave the unbearable silence of her home for a trip by herself to visit her brother Jem in France. And as Irene soon realises, being along can mean discovering freedom, elation and even in the darkest of times, finding your solace.

Nicci Gerrard

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