Four Umbrellas
Overview
A writing couple searches for answers when Alzheimer's causes one of them to lose the place where stories come from — memory.
At the age of fifty-three, Tony walks away from a life of journalism and into an unknown future. June is forty-eight, a writer and teacher, and over the following decade watches as her husband changes — in interests, goals, and behaviour — until Tony has a fall, ending the life they had known.
A diagnosis is seven years away, yet the signs of Alzheimer’s are all around. A suitcase Tony packs for a trip is jammed with four umbrellas, a visual symbol of cognitive looping. But how far back do these signs go? The couple starts probing the past and finding answers. This is not an old person’s disease.
Reviews
Four Umbrellas is a moving and intimate memoir that rattled in my head with its simple beauty. Brimming with courageous, tender, and insightful reflections, the reader cannot help but be accidentally inspired.
June Hutton and Tony Wanless have written a rare gem of a memoir: a candid and clear-eyed insiders’ account of a couple’s journey into Alzheimer’s. With first-person narratives from both caregiver and patient, this is a journey of discovery valiantly shared. A must-read.
The authors present a harrowing, moving seven-year odyssey, rendered in heart-wrenchingly sad yet compassionate and loving detail.
The memoir skillfully weaves reflective emails from Wanless to Hutton into the narrative, allowing readers to witness step by painful step, the impact of the 'long, slow fade' the disease imparts.
About the Authors
Tony Wanless
Tony Wanless
Tony Wanless worked for a variety of newspapers across Canada, including the Financial Post and the Province, and is taking part in a study on Alzheimer's at UBC Hospital. He lives in Vancouver.
Of Related Interest
Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s Disease
Afterword by Michaëlle Jean
Foreword by André Chagnon
Translated by Barbara Sandilands