Synopses & Reviews
Her Beautiful Brain is Ann Hedreen's story of what it was like to become a mom just as her beautiful, brainy mother began to lose her mind to an unforgiving disease. Arlene was a copper miner's daughter who was divorced twice, widowed once, raised six kids singlehandedly, survived the turbulent '60s, and got her B.A. and M.A. at 40 so she could support her family as a Seattle schoolteacher--only to start showing signs of Alzheimer's disease in her late fifties, taking Ann and her siblings on a long descent they never could have anticipated or imagined. For two decades--as Ann married, had a daughter and a son, navigated career changes and marital crises and built a life making documentary films with her husband--she watched her once-invincible mom disappear. From Seattle to Haiti to the mine-gouged Finntown neighborhood in Butte, Montana where she was born and grew up; from Arlene's favorite tennis club to a locked geropsychiatric ward, Her Beautiful Brain tells the heartbreaking story of a daughter's love for a mother who is lost in the wilderness of an unpredictable and harrowing illness.
Review
"As a daughter who nursed her own mother through the ravages of Alzheimer's, I was deeply moved by Ann Hedreen's heartfelt tribute to her mother's courage and suffering, and her searingly honest reflections on the confusion wrought by this disease. --Ruth Ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being
Review
"A moving elegy to a loved one and to the power of love." --Ron Reagan, author of My Father at 100
Review
"An exceptionally beautiful book about a mother who lives and dies with Alzheimer's. Through exquisite writing, Her Beautiful Brain describes not only a mother and a daughter, but a world." --Michael Klein, author of The End of Being Known
Review
"In lucid prose, Ann Hedreen scavenges her family's history, looking for clues about her mother and herself. Her writing is deeply loving, sharply unsentimental, and a joy to read." --Claire Dederer, author of Poser: My Life in 23 Yoga Poses
Review
"In Her Beautiful Brain, Ann Hedreen writes movingly of a vibrant, engaged, life-affirming, highly intelligent woman who overcame many obstacles in life only to succumb to early-onset Alzheimer's. A beautifully written, evocative memoir." --Victoria Nelson, author of Gothicka
Review
"Ann Hedreen has done an elegant job of capturing the past, present, and future of a complicated journey. If you are in the midst of caregiving for a loved one with dementia, you'll find comfort in Hedreen's reflections on her mother's Alzheimer's and her family's response to it." --Keri K. Pollock, Alzheimer's Association
Synopsis
Arlene was a twice-divorced, once-widowed copper miner's daughter who raised six kids singlehandedly and went back to college at forty so she could support her family. In her late fifties, she started showing signs of Alzheimer's disease--and in the two decades that followed, her children were forced to stand helplessly by as their mother's once-beautiful brain was slowly choked by plaques and tangles. In this poignant memoir, Ann Hedreen gives shattering insight into what it is to watch your mother--a woman you once thought of as invincible--begin to disappear. From Seattle to Haiti to the mine-gouged Finntown neighborhood in Butte, Montana where Arlene was born and raised, Her Beautiful Brain tells the heartbreaking story of a daughter's love for a mother lost in the wilderness of an unpredictable and harrowing illness.
Synopsis
• Confirmed presentations and readings scheduled regionally in 2014 through the Alzheimer's Association and Elliott Bay Books. • Confirmed guest blogger this year for her regional Alzheimer's Association; author will work on ramping that up to the national level. • Promotion through author's radio podcast and blog and also writes frequent guest blogs, OpEds and magazine articles. • Targeting radio and TV appearances; author's regional Alzheimer's Association is helping with outreach to regional print, NPR, radio and television talk shows with national to follow. • Confirmed book event at Elliott Bay Bookstore (date TBD) and • Targeting book tour in September-October 2014 at venues including Powell's in Portland, Village Books in Bellingham, and independent stores in New York, Boston, Maine, Chicago and the Bay Area. • Targeting future tours in boomer/retiree-rich areas such as Arizona, Southern California, the Carolinas, and Florida. In all cases, Hedreen will tap into local Alzheimer's Association chapters for help with publicity and/or additional speaking opportunities. • Hedreen's award-winning 2004 documentary film Quick Brown Fox: An Alzheimer's Story has been seen on PBS stations and internationally, remains in distribution with Women Make Movies, is available digitally on Amazon and other sources, and is in many library collections.
About the Author
Ann Hedreen is a writer, teacher, filmmaker and voice of the radio podcast and blog, The Restless Nest. Together, she and her husband Rustin Thompson have made more than 100 films, including five full-length documentaries. Her writing has also appeared in Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, Courageous Creativity, the Seattle Times and other publications. She lives in Seattle.