Daughter

Darleen R. Golke is a high-school teacher-librarian in Winnipeg,
Manitoba.

Sylvie Marchione, 14, arrives home to find Mom on the tenth-floor
balcony looking like she’s ready to jump. Sylvie has been worried
about the changes in Mom’s behavior since Sylvie’s dad walked out
two years ago. Sometimes she is the old Mom, “the one who teaches
grade five, the one who can be calm and sparkling at the same time, the
one who is always in control.” However, Sylvie knows that “the
person on the edge of the balcony” is definitely not in control.

Sylvie finally persuades Mom to see Dr. Gina, who runs tests and
diagnoses early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. With the help of Ryan,
whose grandmother suffers from the disease, Sylvie must accept the
classic signs: memory loss, inability to keep track of time, changes in
personality and speech patterns, difficulties with numbers, and failure
to recognize people, places, and objects.

In a rare moment of lucidity, Mom admits, “I believe there is a
problem with my memory or my mind.” She proposes handling practical
matters—properties, stocks, child support, health care, wills—with
Sylvie’s father while she still can. Sylvie insists on keeping Mom at
home, but her condition deteriorates to the point where Sylvie finally
admits she cannot cope; at the same time, she accepts the doctor’s
assessment that “the person you [knew] is not your mother. She’s
gone.”

While struggling with her mother’s illness, Sylvie faces the everyday
problems (with school, teachers, grades, relationships, friends, piano
lessons, etc.) that are typical in a teenager’s life. The author
sensitively portrays Sylvie’s confusion, anger, pain, fear, rebellion,
and final acceptance. Sylvie is a well-drawn, appealing, and believable
character. Moore charts the progress of Alzheimer’s disease and
dramatizes its effects on the family as well. As in her previous novels,
she tackles sensitive issues in a forthright and engaging fashion.
Highly recommended.