The Year My Family Unravelled

A superbly written and surprising memoir about hope, redemption, self-worth, and the tangled and often contradictory impulses of love.

Cynthia Dearborn is struggling to convince her father, who has vascular dementia, to move into an aged care facility. He won’t budge. Further complicating matters is the fact that Cynthia lives in Sydney, and her father in Seattle. Truth be told, it suits her to live halfway around the world from her family.

Cynthia’s attempts to get her father and stepmother into care, and to protect them from themselves and each other, drive this compelling memoir. But braided in is a deeply moving and surprising backstory about Cynthia’s tumultuous childhood and the difficult relationships she had with both parents.

The Year My Family Unravelled continues to surprise right to the last page. Despite heavy subject matter — mental decline, illness, abuse, death — this is a memoir of buoyancy and hope. Ultimately, it is a story about redemption, self-worth, and the tangled and often contradictory impulses of love.

About the Author

Cynthia Dearborn grew up in the US, Scotland, Germany and Italy, eventually settling in Seattle, where she worked as a barista before gaining a Master’s in TESOL. After migrating solo to Australia, she earned a PhD in applied linguistics, and taught at the University of Technology Sydney and then at The University of Sydney, where she currently holds an Honorary position.

As Cynthia D Nelson, she is the author of numerous academic publications. Her play, Queer as a Second Language, has been performed to acclaim in Australia, Japan, the UK and the US. Her poem sequence ‘The Darmstadt Year’ was shortlisted for Australia’s prestigious Newcastle Poetry Prize.