This remarkable first novel about a 50-year-old woman's descent into early onset Alzheimer's is frightening to read, especially for those who have experienced the odd 'senior moment'.
A Harvard professor specialising in linguistics, Alice's illness begins insidiously with forgetfulness over a word when she gives a lecture, and progresses over the months to the ultimate loss - all memory of her husband and children.
Her downward spiral is seen from her point of view, as she deludes herself that despite her illness she is still able to teach, until she is removed from her post for erratic behaviour.
Her battle to remain 'Alice' as her concept of self slips away leads to her forming a support group of fellow Alzheimer's sufferers