Child of Earth and Starry Heaven - Paperback

by L. Annette Binder (Author)

When L. Annette Binder's mother starts to forget things she's always known, Annette researches ways to keep her from losing touch with the world. They try supplements and exercise routines, light therapy and sound tracks with 40-Hertz clicks. Annette begins to speak German with her mother-something she'd resisted since immigrating to the United States with her parents years before. And when these therapies prove ineffective, Annette simply spends time with her mother. Hour upon hour in memory care, where Annette begins to see hints of a world almost invisible to outsiders, where residents might lose cognition but they remain capable of feeling and expressing love.

Child of Earth and Starry Heaven is a story of motherhood, memory and memory loss. It looks to mythology, science, fiction, history and poetry to find meaning and beauty even as Helena's cognition fades. Sad and joyous, it is a powerful meditation on the things that make us human and that connect us in even our darkest moments.

The author writes with the probing lyricism of a poet ... Readers will admire Binder's refusal of sentimentality, observant eye, and determination to grasp answers that seem always on the verge of evaporation. An illuminating and moving meditation on dementia.

-Kirkus ("Our Verdict: GET IT")

It took a very singular mind to write Child of Earth and Starry Heaven-and an even more singular love of a daughter for her mother. How can a book of grief so profoundly embolden our senses? This writing draws our attention to every precious moment of a life, and in doing so, enriches our own immeasurably. Read L. Annette Binder's devastatingly exhilarating chronicle of her mother Helena's last days-it will remind you to breathe, to be stunned that you can breathe.

-Michelle Latiolais, author of Widow and She

In Child of Earth and Starry Heaven, Binder turns the sadness of loss and tragedy into a thing of great beauty. It is the story of a daughter's love for her mother suffering from dementia, and it is told skillfully, carefully, with enormous heart, grace, kindness and compassion. This is a hauntingly powerful work of the sort only the very best of writers may hope to achieve in a lifetime.

-James Brown, author of Apology to the Young Addict

The devastating consequences of Alzheimer's disease have profound implications for patients, their families, and society. Drawing on insights ranging from poetry and literature to neuroscience and neurology, L. Annette Binder provides an eloquent first-hand account of her mother's decline into dementia. Filled with rich insight into the importance of memory and consequences of forgetting, Child of Earth and Starry Heaven is an essential book that both moves and informs.

-Daniel L. Schacter, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of The Seven Sins of Memory Updated Edition (2021)