Entering the Blue Stone

What happens when one's larger-than-life military parents--disciplined, distinguished, exacting--begin sliding out of control?  The General struggles to maintain his invulnerable façade against Parkinson's disease; his lovely wife manifests a bizarre dementia. Their three grown children, desperate to save the situation, convince themselves of the perfect solution:  an upscale retirement community.  But as soon as their parents have been resettled within its walls, the many imperfections of its system of care begin to appear.  


Charting the line between comedy and pathos, Molly Best Tinsley’s memoir, Entering the Blue Stone, dissects the chaos at the end of life and discovers what shines beneath:  family bonds, the dignity of even an unsound mind, and the endurance of the heart. 


Selected Advance Praise:


A brave, beautifully written account . . . both tragedy and triumph.  

Shannon Ravenel, editor, New Stories from the South



The journey of three siblings from denial to indignation and finally acceptance, as they learn how to bring comfort to a mother and father who inhabit their own inner worlds. 

Merrill Leffler, editor, Dryad Press; poet, Mark the Music.


Luminous, funny, and heartbreaking,  Entering the Blue Stone is a beautiful book—the writing, of course, but also the quality of heart--it is so informed by love, without being in the least sentimental.  

Joyce Reiser Kornblatt, author, The Reason for Wings.


A story both familiar and exceedingly rare, beautiful and harrowing and often very funny.  Entering the Blue Stone is a small gem of a book.  

Mary Edwards Wertsch, author, Military Brats:  Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress