Anna Forster is only thirty-eight years old, but her mind is slowly slipping away from her. Armed only with her keen wit and sharp-eyed determination, she knows that her family is doing what they believe to be best when they take her to Rosalind House, an assisted living facility. But Anna has a secret: she does not plan on staying. She also knows there’s just one another resident who is her age, … age, Luke. What she does not expect is the love that blossoms between her and Luke even as she resists her new life. As her disease steals more and more of her memory, Anna fights to hold on to what she knows, including her relationship with Luke.
Eve Bennett, suddenly thrust into the role of single mother to her bright and vivacious seven-year-old daugher, finds herself putting her culinary training to use at Rosalind house. When she meets Anna and Luke, she is moved by the bond the pair has forged. But when a tragic incident leads Anna’s and Luke’s families to separate them, Eve finds herself questioning what she is willing to risk to help them. Eve has her own secrets, and her own desperate circumstances that raise the stakes even higher.
With huge heart, humor, and a compassionate understanding of human nature, Sally Hepworth delivers a page-turning novel about the power of love to grow and endure even when faced with the most devastating of obstacles. You won’t forget The Things We Keep.
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The Things We Keep is one of the earliest books written by Sally Hepworth, but I’ve been reading them out of order. They are not a series, yet I like to grow with writers in the launch trajectory of their careers by reading in publication order too. That said, I really liked this book, and it tugs on your emotions easily… but it wasn’t my favorite of her collection thus far. I still highly recommend it, just felt it was missing a bit in the way of connection and all out balling / tears. Perhaps I also prefer things tidier, and with Alzheimer’s, that’s not going to be possible.
The book changes POV from Anna to Eve consistently. Occasionally, Eve’s seven-year-old daughter, Clementine, has a few chapters too. Eve’s husband was at the top of a Ponzi scheme, and then he killed himself. She’s now a social pariah. Anna is in her thirties but has developed early onset Alzheimer’s. The novel takes place in an adult care facility, mostly specializing in older patients. Anna feels weird around the others, but then she meets Luke, another younger guy with a similar disease. Eve gets a job working there as a cook, and from there, they learn how to help one another through all their problems. Even Clementine gets a lesson from the supporting cast.
The characters in this book are brilliant. They feel real and have strong personalities, but they also are missing a few elements — just like real people. The story is simple… love, revenge, loss, trust. So many situations define as human beings, but what happens when your memory basically resets every day? You can’t be left on your own, but sometimes your family tries to take things away from you because they worry about your safety. Eve knows this, and she was innocent in all of it, just like the patients at the facility. No one asks for the disease; it just rains down on them.
I loved this story and what it is trying to accomplish. I was hoping for a stronger finish, but it just sorta ends. I wanted a bit more darkness to the secret of why Luke and Anna were being prevented from seeing one another. I think maybe I’ve been reading too many suspense novels, but even when I try to separate from them, I see a few areas where this story could’ve shined more in the end. I yearned for a better moral lesson with some characters. I needed a more touching sense of what might happen next. And I craved a moment of realization from someone who knew how to fix everything. I didn’t need a 100% ribbon-tying ending, but I desired more than I got. It’s okay tho… still a very strong story and poignant writing will carry it quite far. I definitely recommend this book.
This is the story that takes place in a home for folks who have Alzheimers. Anna is only 38 years old but has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers. After she found out, she left her husband and moved in with her brother. But when she accidentally starts a fire that harms her young nephew, she asked to be moved to a facility.
In the facility she meets another young person with Alzheimers named Luke. Luke and Anna begin a relationship as their memories slowly slip away. Eve – a new cook with a checkered past – comes to the care home to work and care for the patients. Her young daughter, Clementine, who has been uprooted from everything she knows, tries to make sense of her new life.
Around them swirls a life that neither Eve or Anna ever expected. Both trying to hold on to what they knew yet knowing that they cannot. And when a tragic accident forces Anna and Luke’s families to separate them, Eve tries to figure out a way to bring them back together.
I have mixed feelings about this book. first – it is a fast read. The story moves quickly and the chapters go back and forth between different characters. The story is heartbreaking to think of a woman as young as Anna having dementia and quickly losing her ability to remember anything.
What I didn’t like about the book was the whole involvement in Eve in Anna and Luke’s love story. Eve is a cook – not a nurse or a doctor – yet she feels she is a bit of an expert on what Anna and Luke need. She doesn’t know their whole story, doesn’t know why the tragedy happened, and yet she feels it is her responsibility to make sure these two get to spend time together since they are “in love”? I don’t buy it. IT was just too unrealistic, and I found myself rolling my eyes at that part of the story.
I cannot say to skip the book. This piece above is not the biggest part of the book, and so I think it is worth a read.
The characters were believable and, most important, real. I felt sorry for them and then hopeful as they worked through their problems. The twin brother was a perfect example of a family member who is trying so hard to do the right thing for a patient but fails to listen to what the patient actually wants and needs. The dnding was just right and left me feeling satisfied. After I finished reading “Things’ i immediately went to the library to find other books by Sally Hepworth
I truly enjoyed this book and the way it was written.
As a nurse who works with the elderly, I believe it should be read by every healthcare professional.
This story is exactly how people with dementia feel and see the world as it begins to shrink daily.
Eve was a wonderful advocate for the residents at Rosalind house. . The residents loved Clementine and love and enjoy the innocence of children.
Anna and Luke are in love and that emotion never fades even with this horrible disease. Well done!
I have this 5 stars because I couldn’t put it down. It drew me in with the first page and kept me going till the end. This novel is easy to read and has wonderful characters. Wonderful story!!