Tangles And Plaques A Mother And Daughter Face Alzheimer's [Paperback]

Culled from sixty blog posts spanning eight years, Tangles and Plaques is a candid account of a mother and daughters changing relationship as they face the progressive landscape of Alzheimers Disease together. As the twisted fibers (tangles) build up inside the nerve cells in her brain and the protein fragments (plaques) fill the spaces between those cells, Effie Johnsonlike millions of others who suffer from Alzheimersloses her memory, the stories that make up the fabric of her life.

Blending humor (I Cant Find My Panties) with pathos (Disappearing Stories) and hope with despair, Susan Johnson Cushman captures the personal within the universal in a story that reveals a complicated relationship between an often verbally abusive mother and a daughter hungry for her mothers unconditional love. Part Polaroid, part cautionary tale, the reality woven throughout these records of long-distance caregiving is that the tangles and plaques arent only in our brains, but often in our relationships.

PRAISE FOR TANGLES AND PLAQUES

Susan Cushman is not only an accomplished writer, but she tackles a brutal topic with candor and honesty. Madness awaits us all. I pray I can confront it with equal faith and vulnerability.

Neil White, author of In the Sanctuary of Outcasts

Cushman has written a new kind of love story, one that speaks to the very real concerns of a generation. In this true story of a daughters love for her aging mother within the daily trials of caregiving, we read ourselves, our families, and the ways that our losses shape who we become and how we choose to remember.

Jessica Handler, author of
Invisible Sisters: A Memoir and
Braving the Fire: A Guide to Writing About Grief and Loss