About the Author

Acclaimed as the Oliver Sacks of fiction and the Michael Crichton of brain science, Lisa Genova is the New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice, Left Neglected, Love Anthony, and Inside the O'Briens. Still Alice was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, and Kristen Stewart. Lisa graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in biopsychology and holds a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard University. She travels worldwide speaking about the neurological diseases she writes about and has appeared on The Dr. Oz Show, Today, PBS NewsHour, CNN, and NPR. Her TED talk, What You Can Do To Prevent Alzheimer's, has been viewed over 2 million times.

Reviews

Fifty-year-old Alice Howland, a highly respected linguistics professor, suddenly begins feeling disoriented and confused. Her diagnosis-early-onset Alzheimer's-irrevocably changes her life as well as the lives of her husband and three grown children. First-time novelist Genova holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Harvard University and writes an online column for the National Alzheimer's Association. These qualifications help to make her story realistic and compelling. Genova reads her own work, conveying meaning through emphasis and inflection. Of interest to all listeners. [Audio clip available through www.simonandschuster.-com.-Ed.]-Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Lib., Providence Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

Neuroscientist and debut novelist Genova mines years of experience in her field to craft a realistic portrait of early onset Alzheimer's disease. Alice Howland has a career not unlike Genova's--she's an esteemed psychology professor at Harvard, living a comfortable life in Cambridge with her husband, John, arguing about the usual (making quality time together, their daughter's move to L.A.) when the first symptoms of Alzheimer's begin to emerge. First, Alice can't find her Blackberry, then she becomes hopelessly disoriented in her own town. Alice is shocked to be diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's (she had suspected a brain tumor or menopause), after which her life begins steadily to unravel. She loses track of rooms in her home, resigns from Harvard and eventually cannot recognize her own children. The brutal facts of Alzheimer's are heartbreaking, and it's impossible not to feel for Alice and her loved ones, but Genova's prose style is clumsy and her dialogue heavy-handed. This novel will appeal to those dealing with the disease and may prove helpful, but beyond the heartbreaking record of illness there's little here to remember. (Jan.) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

'The most accurate account of what it feels like to be inside the mind of an Alzheimer's patient I've ever read. Beautifully written and very illuminating'

"Rosie Boycott "

"Alzheimer's Society"