The Things We Keep
The heart-breaking and hopeful story of a love that can never be lost from the No.1 bestselling author of The Mother-in-Law
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4.0 • 5 Ratings
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- €5.99
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- €5.99
Publisher Description
The Things We Keep is a moving and heartbreaking love story by Sally Hepworth.
Anna Forster is thirty-eight years old and has started to suffer from the early stages of Alzheimer's. She knows that her family is doing what they believe to be best when they take her to an assisted living facility. But best can still hurt. What she also knows is that there's just one other resident her age at the facility – Luke.
As her disease steals more and more of her memory, Anna fights to hold on to all that's left. What remains are her feelings for Luke. Before long the pair fall in love, despite the forces that are set against them.
But when a tragic incident occurs, Luke and Anna's families decide to separate them. There is one person at the facility who can help the pair, but only if she's willing to risk everything for them . . .
Authors love Sally Hepworth:
'Completely compulsive' - Jane Harper
'Women’s fiction at its finest' - Liane Moriarty
'Smart suspenseful, brimming with secrets' - Kate Morton
'Clever, chilling and beautifully crafted’ - Adele Parks
Readers love The Things We Keep:
‘This book is so wonderful that I didn’t want it to end. Sally Hepworth has written some great books, but this is her best one’
‘I have just finished reading this book and it's left me so full of emotion I can hardly breathe’
‘I feel so moved by this book’
‘I loved this book, it was so emotive, wonderful!’
‘It is a novel that teaches you to find joy even when situations seem horrendous and insurmountable. This novel broke my heart – and healed it simultaneously'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hepworth's second novel (after The Secrets of Midwives) explores issues of self-determination and identity through an unconventional tearjerker of a love story. Diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's at 39, Anna has made the difficult decision to move into a residential care facility. Though she's mostly surrounded by senior citizens, there's one other self-described "young person, old mind": Luke, who suffers from frontotemporal dementia. The two immediately bond over their unlikely shared circumstance, and eventually their friendship moves into romance. But as Anna's condition worsens, the question of whether she is capable of relationships, or of falling in love, comes into question, and her family insists that she and Luke be kept apart. The home's new cook, Eve, is charmed by Luke and Anna's tale of star-crossed love, and she vows to help them at any cost but her understanding of the potential dangers is incomplete, and facilitating their romance could put more than just her job in jeopardy. The story's nonlinear structure, designed to mimic Anna's disorientation, cleverly obscures a few reveals that color the reader's perception of the dilemma at hand, and while none of these reveals are particularly surprising, they're no less heartbreaking. A supporting cast of quirky old folks and Eve's precocious daughter add levity to a poignant and nuanced story.
