Left – A Love Story by Mary Hogan (Review by Lara Ferguson)
Rating: 4.7/5*
What do you do when someone leaves you? Someone you love? When they leave but they’re not gone. Mary Hogan gives us a love story that examines just these questions in a way that is genuine and real. This book feels honest and straightforward, with characters who are real in their emotions and reactions. People who live next door, or belong to your family. I loved it because Mary Hogan told us a love story full of truth, laden with misunderstanding, devotion, anger, confusion, despair, and commitment.
Paul and Fay have been married for a long time when she realizes something is going on—her husband is changing and no one else in their core group wants to see it. Her brilliant, loving husband is becoming someone she doesn’t recognize and no one else in their life wants to acknowledge the problems. As Fay works through the changes that are occurring and faces the impossible decisions that she now must make, Mary Hogan, treats us not only to her memories of their love, but we also see the difficulty of her new existence as she occasionally escapes into a fantasy of a new and different life as she walks with Lola, their dog.
This book, created to be a hybrid of memoir and fiction does an incredible job of communicating the real emotional challenges that families face when a loved one is suffering from dementia. The good comes with the bad in Fay’s life and we see it all. Definitely a book that stays with you long after you have read the last page.