Fergus and Lavinia Moreton have been married for more than 30 years and 'comfortably wrapped up' in each other for nearly 50. Though they enjoy a life of semi-rural comfort in civilised Middle England, nothing is ever quite right for Fergus, including any foodstuff invented after the 1960s. The matters they disagree about range from the use of animals to keep the lawn down to Fergus' supposed talent as a player of the bodhran - or any other musical instrument. Neither could imagine life without the other, although Lavinia sometimes tries...

A sympathetic, perceptive portrait of a couple who are not old yet - just in very late middle age.

The letters Gillian Griffith wrote to her elderly, demented mother were never intended to be read - they were simply Gillian’s way of dealing with
her own anger and guilt towards her high-handed, infuriating and impossibly challenging mother. To Gillian’s own surprise, “as the words bounced back at me off the page, magic happened”. The letters began to morph into a book, and the writing of it gradually released Gillian from her mother’s influence. The result is a powerful, touching, uplifting and often very funny account of one woman’s emotional and practical battle with the chaos caused by dementia.

This book (the title comes from a small piece of nonsense spoken by Gillian’s mother) brings a new insight into the effects of dementia on those caught up in it. It will make a valuable and original contribution to the debate on dementia care.

“Dementia drops like a pebble into the pond of family life, and its ripples spread out in ever-increasing circles of devastation.”