Alzheimer's Canyon: One Couple's Reflections on Living with Dementia
Jane Dwinell & Sky Yardley
November 1, 2022
“An emotional road map for anyone facing an unexpected challenge.”
—David Goodman, New York Times bestselling author and host of The Vermont Conversation
2023 IPNE Award Winner, Narrative Nonfiction
2022 Foreword INDIES Finalist, Health (Adult Nonfiction)
2023 Eric Hoffer Book Award Category Finalist
5-Star Readers’ Favorite
Jane Dwinell & Sky Yardley
November 1, 2022
“An emotional road map for anyone facing an unexpected challenge.”
—David Goodman, New York Times bestselling author and host of The Vermont Conversation
2023 IPNE Award Winner, Narrative Nonfiction
2022 Foreword INDIES Finalist, Health (Adult Nonfiction)
2023 Eric Hoffer Book Award Category Finalist
5-Star Readers’ Favorite
Jane Dwinell & Sky Yardley
November 1, 2022
“An emotional road map for anyone facing an unexpected challenge.”
—David Goodman, New York Times bestselling author and host of The Vermont Conversation
2023 IPNE Award Winner, Narrative Nonfiction
2022 Foreword INDIES Finalist, Health (Adult Nonfiction)
2023 Eric Hoffer Book Award Category Finalist
5-Star Readers’ Favorite
SIGNED COPIES: Order here from Phoenix Books!
Release Date: November 1, 2022
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-57869-111-1
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-57869-112-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022905792
eBook: 978-1-57869-113-5 Click Here to order the eBook
Booksellers and Libraries: Order Here or in Ingram.
Synopsis
In the middle of the night I wake up and don't know where I am . . . . Am I in my house? My neighbor's house? Do I turn on the light? Do I get dressed? I turn to Jane, hold her hand, and let her bring me back to reality.
What do you do when your reality slips away? If you're Sky Yardley and Jane Dwinell, you accept each new challenge, reshape your life, and write.
When Sky was diagnosed with "probable early stage Alzheimer's" at age 66, he was determined to live as fully with his new reality as possible. He researched dementia, talked about dementia, connected with other people with the disease, and, finally, he wrote about it. With humor and honesty, love and compassion, Sky and his wife Jane describe what it's like to live with a constantly evolving and mysterious new life. "The brain is a mysterious thing," writes Jane, as Sky muses about traveling unmapped roads with no GPS.
Welcome to Alzheimer's Canyon: there is one way in, and no way out. Follow Sky and Jane as they navigate this journey they did not ask to take, a journey that balances pain, loss, and confusion with gratitude, wonder, and transformation.
PRAISE
“Gift. That was the concept repeating itself in my mind as I read this book: a gift. So, it was a delight to see Jane end with this very word. That is what this book is: a gift from Sky and Jane. A gift of vulnerability and validation. A gift of truth-telling and humility. A gift in two voices: from two people living with dementia, one caregiver sharing with exquisite frankness; one with a brain riddled with plaque, sharing with rare and powerful candor (and sometimes irreverent humor). Like I said: a gift for us all.”
—Rev. Karen G. Johnston, founder of Date with Death Club
______________________
“This exquisite and intimate book is like a love letter from an unknown address. Jane Dwinell and Sky Yardley take us on a journey with them into the uncharted world of Alzheimer's Disease. They bravely navigate the depths of Alzheimer's Canyon, shining a light in a disorienting landscape. Their unflinching honesty about their lived experience serves as an emotional road map for anyone facing an unexpected challenge. Out of her grief, Dwinell offers this gift, and hope.”
—David Goodman, bestselling author and host of The Vermont Conversation
______________________
“A remarkable read. Jane and Sky take the reader through the whirlwind that is dementia. From the moment they both knew something had changed to the moment they received a formal diagnosis all the way to end-of-life. A beautiful life. While each journey through dementia is unique, the lessons that Jane and Sky learned and share with the reader can be embraced by all: Practice patience. I say practice because it does not come easily for all; give yourself permission to grieve and find support systems to help through this journey, and cherish the moments where love shines through, whether it be a lucid moment, a gentle touch, or a knowing smile.”
—Samantha Wendel CMC, CSA, CDP, director of resident and family services at Benchmark Senior Living
Reviews & In the News
May 7, 2023, Readers’ Favorite: Five-Star Book Review
December 7, 2022, Burlington Free Press: Warm up this winter with these books by, for and about Vermonters
December 7, 2022, Kirkus Reviews: An important and practical read for people living with Alzheimer’s disease and similar illnesses.
November 16, 2022, Seven Days: Page 32: Short Takes on Five Vermont Books
October 26, 2022, VT Digger’s Vermont Conversation: A couple's journey into the uncharted world of Alzheimer's disease and dementia
October 10, 2022: Clarkson University Guest Blog Post: Alzheimer’s Canyon: One Couple’s Reflections on Living with Dementia by Jane Dwinell
MEET THE AUTHORS
Sky and Jane author photo by Valerie Stoller
Sky Yardley & Jane Dwinell were together for 36 years. They raised two children, for many years had a small farm, and retired in their fifties to travel and do volunteer work. They both had successful careers—Sky as a family mediator, and Jane as an RN, freelance writer, and Unitarian Universalist minister. In 1992, Jane authored Birth Stories: Mystery, Power and Creation. As an avocation together they designed and built seven houses and renovated two others. Sky was diagnosed with “probable early stage Alzheimer’s disease” in the summer of 2016. He had been showing signs of memory loss since 2012, most significantly since 2015. He was 66 when he was diagnosed. Jane was 62. Sky died in 2021, after chronicling with Jane his five-year decline from this fatal disease, the sixth-leading cause of death in the US.