Lisa Genova

An accomplished concert pianist, Richard received standing ovations from audiences all over the world in awe of his rare combination of emotional resonance and flawless technique. Every finger of his hands was a finely calibrated instrument, dancing across the keys and striking each note with exacting precision. That was eight months ago. Richard now has ALS, and his entire right arm is paralyzed. His fingers are impotent, still, devoid of possibility....

Joe O'Brien is a 44-year-old police officer, devoted husband, proud father of four adult children. Joe begins experiencing strange physical and emotional symptoms. The neurologist diagnoses Huntington's Disease. It is a neurodegenerative disease with no cure, and is genetic. As Joe's symptoms worsen, he struggles to maintain his identity and sense of purpose. Each family member must reexamine their values and relationships as they learn to lead lives...

First-person narrator Sarah Nickerson is a 37-year-old, overachieving multitasker with a Harvard MBA and a demanding job as vice president of human relations at a Boston consulting firm. Her husband, Bob, works at a struggling tech start-up and shares in the upbringing of their three young children in an affluent suburb. Then there's a car accident on a rainy November morning, and a traumatic brain injury leaves Sarah with "left neglect," a lack of...

Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer's disease.

Taking detailed notes and working off cognitive reserve, O'Brien offers an illuminating blueprint of strategies, faith, and humor needed to fight this disease, a day-to-day focus on living with Alzheimer's, not dying with it-- a hope that all is not lost when it appears to be.