The award is open to outstanding works of fiction and non-fiction on the theme of health, illness or medicine. Six books made the shortlist. The winner:
Read about the other books to make the shortlist.Keeper: Living with Nancy - a journey into Alzheimer's
Andrea Gillies
Andrea Gillies made the decision to take on the full-time care of her mother-in-law, Nancy, an Alzheimer's sufferer. With her family, she moved to a remote peninsula in northern Scotland to a house with space to accommodate Nancy and her elderly husband, and there embarked on an extraordinary journey.
'Keeper' describes the emotional strain of living with Alzheimer’s, the trials faced by both sufferer and carer, when patience and obligations are pushed to the limit. The book is also a brilliantly illuminating examination of the disease itself. It explores the brain and consciousness, and tackles profound questions about the self, the soul and how memory informs who we are.
--Marshal Zeringue