Here and Now: Evocative, emotional and full of life, the most moving book you'll read this year

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Sebag and I do bring out the best in each other. I wouldn’t have written if not for him and he might not have written books either, as he was a ladies' man, always chasing girls, but now his home life is stable and sorted. We write in the same house, in separate offices and he helps me with plots. I think you have to be a team. Laughter is everything. Mr Darcy would have been so boring to live with – you don’t want to live with someone who is smouldering all the time. If you’re prepared to have your heart broken into a million pieces, I’d suggest you look no further than this. As the family learns to manage this upheaval, Marigold finds herself becoming more forgetful. Initially chalking it up to old age, it soon becomes harder for those who know her to ignore the signs that something else might be behind her forgetfulness.

Linda/Vancouver/Langley/BC/Canada 6 stars for a beauty such as this book. All about life. Please read this book. Could be you or I. I also feel this way about the other members of Marigold's family. Dennis just has a heart fo gold and you can tell he is absolutely besotted by his wife. I enjoyed meeting Daisy and Suze. I wasn't sure about them to begin with but their lives are very real and very like my own and I totally warmed to them and lived this whole story line through their eyes. Then we have Nan who is definitely hard to like but when you get down to the roots of her ways, you can see that she does have her daughter's best interests at heart. What a wonderfully warm, uplifting read! Author Santa Montefiore doesn’t shirk from the realities of the fear and helplessness that the gradual onset of dementia brings, but never does she lose sight of the fact that a person is more than her condition.It’s about a family and a community coming together and rising to become their better selves when a much beloved member of the village gets dementia. It’s funny but also sad – mostly, it’s about love and learning to live in the moment. Have you always wanted to be an author? Was die Familie und die Bewohner dieses Dorfes alles tun, um ihre Marigold zu unterstützen, ist unglaublich berührend zu lesen. Das ein oder andere Tränchen habe ich beim lesen vergossen. At first Marigold tries to hide her memory lapses from friends, neighbours and family. Maybe she just needs to do some Sudoku puzzles? Perhaps a holiday will help? But as it becomes clear that her forgetfulness is down to more than “just her age”, it’s time for them to face the truth and rally round to help her. They can’t stop her decline – but can they help her live in the here and now, and preserve her golden memories for as long as possible?

Her early childhood and Her years at school". Biography. Santa Montefiore. Archived from the original on 26 August 2011 . Retrieved 5 May 2011.Evocative, emotional and full of life, Here and Now is the most moving book you’ll read this year – from Sunday Times bestselling author Santa Montefiore. a b c d Siobhan Kane (3 August 2013). "Connemara's gift to Santa". Irish Times . Retrieved 5 October 2016. I’m pleased to share my review for the latest book by Santa Montefiore on my book blog today. Thank you to Simon and Schuster for a digital review copy – my thoughts are my own and and not influenced by the gift.

Der Schreibstil ist einfach und schnörkellos, jedoch auch anschaulich. Viel wörtliche Rede schafft eine lebhafte Atmosphäre. Marigold woont samen met haar man Dennis en dochter Suze in een klein plattelands dorpje waar iedereen elkaar kent. Ook haar negentigjarige moeder, Nana, komt bij hun in huis wonen, thuis alleen red ze niet meer. Wanneer Daisy, de andere dochter van Marigold en Dennis, ook weer thuis komt wonen na een relatie van zes jaar in Milaan wordt het Marigold allemaal teveel. Het lijkt wel of ze al vergeetachtiger wordt, maar iedereen wuift dat weg en zegt dat het bij de leeftijd hoort. Wanneer ze op een gegeven moment echter niet meer in staat is om haar eigen winkel te runnen en de voorbereidingen van Suze haar bruiloft te treffen nemen de zorgen toe. Wat is er toch met haar aan de hand? From internationally bestselling author Santa Montefiore—a touching and bittersweet intergenerational story about family and the power of memory. Kind, happy, warm-hearted Marigold captured my heart from the outset – no-one could help from loving her. Her family are equally engaging – none of them perfect (except perhaps the delightful Dennis) but all strong and resourceful in their own way. Acerbic-tongued Nan struggles most to accept her daughter’s condition, but is always supportive and dizzy Suze rises to the challenge. But it’s Daisy, perhaps, who is affected most. With Luca in the past, and her mother’s needs filling the present and future, it seems her dreams of marriage and a family are in tatters. Her determination to put family responsibility first is admirable. I think this was the first Santa Montefiore novel that I've read that wasn't a historical. This was a contemporary novel and I was completely absorbed by it and completely swept away with this family of characters.I always wrote stories, becoming an author was a wonderful surprise. I never thought it would happen to me, so I never dreamed about it. I just wrote for pleasure and friends and then one day, aged 25, I sent a manuscript off to agents. Three refused me, one accepted me, the rest is a history of enthusiastic, talented people giving my books wings. Where do you find inspiration? Marigold is a wonderful character, much loved by her family and neighbours and community. The way the story is written to show how her little episodes of forgetfulness become more serious is a heartbreaking tale uplifted by how her family and friends help her to stay happy. Marigold has been looking after her mum, her husband and daughters for many years, now they need to work together to help her.

Dementia can be a sensitive subject and Montefiore writes about it with the elegance and grace exactly like her other ‘happy’ books. I would never normally read a book based on this subject purely because I am quite an emotional person, it does not take much to make me cry, and a book like this would send me in a ‘spin’ for days. The reason I chose to read this one however, is purely that I know Montefiore is such a beautiful writer, I knew it would be a wonderful story albeit a heart-breaking one. I find Dementia so frightful and sad I cannot contemplate how people manage to cope when somebody they love has the disease and Montefiore shows pure strength in her group of characters. The sub-plots in the story are a welcome relief when you feel the tears starting to form and are a welcome distraction when reading this book and I find it is written with such love and tactfulness. Der Roman besteht aus 29 eher kürzeren Kapiteln. Erzählt wird überwiegend aus der Sicht von Marigold, aber auch aus anderen Perspektiven. Der Aufbau funktioniert gut. a b c d e f g h Christa D'Souza (24 February 2001). "The lit girl". The Telegraph . Retrieved 5 October 2016. We learn how adult daughters might feel about a parent who needs extra attention and may not be able to continue in their care-giving role. We understand more about how a partner of someone with dementia might feel when faced with a changing relationship, and of course we also find out how Marigold herself responds and reacts to her changing situation. Montefiore is married to the writer and historian Simon Sebag Montefiore. They were brought together by the historian Andrew Roberts, who thought "they would be absolutely perfect for each other because they were the only two people he knew who could remember the words to Evita off by heart". [6] She says of their marriage: [5]

Well. This was absolutely devastating. I spent the last 10-15% absolutely sobbing, so if you want to get your heart ripped out, this is the perfect book for you. Caroline says, ‘Without giving too much of the plot away, the story is entertaining but also provides refreshing ideas about taking opportunities, appreciating people and family relationships.