The Memory of All That

“A road map for sustaining love in the face of inevitable loss for any of us. Mary MacCracken is a skilled storyteller who knows how to turn this tale of wrenching heartbreak into a surprisingly uplifting memoir.”
—Jan Maher, award-winning author of The Persistence of Memory and Other Stories, Earth as It Is, and Heaven, Indiana

“A moving account of one couple’s vibrant, loving relationship, their courage in facing Alzheimer’s, and their fierce unwillingness to abandon any moment of shared happiness before the end. This poignant narrative also offers ways to handle the problems and difficult decisions faced by caregivers and their families.”
—Nancy Dubler, LLB, Affiliated Professor, Division of Medical Ethics, NYU Langone Medical Center and author of Alzheimer’s Dementia: Dilemmas in Clinical Research and Ethics on Call:A Medical Ethicist Shows How to Take Charge of Life-and-Death Choices

“A generous and stirring memoir about Alzheimer’s, framed not as tragedy but as a chronicle of married love. Readers facing a similar journey will welcome this book with relief and hope.”
—Christine Hemp, author of Wild Ride Home: Love, Loss and a little White Horse

“MacCracken writes with honest poignancy in beautiful prose. . . . [This book] will help anyone who is dealing with Alzheimer’s . . . [or is] interested in learning more about the disease and its profound effect on families.”
—Shawn LaTorre, StoryCircle Book Reviews

“The Memory of All That is a love letter to Mary MacCracken’s husband with dementia. Here but gone; no longer as he used to be. Ambiguous loss, it’s called, with both ‘upwelling sadness’ and ‘scraps of joy.’ In this current world of loss, we can find solace in MacCracken’s beautifully written story about love and purpose.”
—Pauline Boss, PhD, author of The Myth of Closure: Ambiguous Loss in a Time of Pandemic and Change and Loving Someone Who Has Dementia: How to Find Hope while Coping with Stress and Grief