The basic premise of this debut novel is pure genius: Dr. Jennifer White, a retired orthopedic surgeon, is suffering from dementia. Her neighbor and best friend, Amanda, has been found murdered, with four fingers surgically removed. Dr. White can't say if she is guilty or not because she can't remember. She is, of course, questioned repeatedly by police detectives, is always cooperative, but really doesn't have any information. Or does she?
Through fragments of narrative, writings in her notebook, moments of absolute lucidity and long periods when she can't even recall where she is, Dr. White leads the reader through the fractured landscape of her mind. There are frequent incursions from her children, Mark and Fiona, both with problems of their own. Dr. White is content living in her home with a caregiver, but Mark decides that the home should be sold and his mother moved to assisted living.
Her dementia worsens, but she still has periods of perfect clarity, when she can recall her friendship with Amanda, her husband's philandering and incidents from family life. She is questioned frequently by one of the detectives, a woman with more than a professional interest in the case. Breakthroughs sometimes loom, then vanish into thin air.
The secrets that Jennifer had with her husband, the friendship-cum-battlefield she had with Amanda, her grief at having to give up her profession, her difficult relations with both children--all form the poignant story of a woman who is losing everything. As her consciousness erodes, barriers fall and revelations are possible, but not the ones the reader expects. --Valerie Ryan