Long Hello (ePub)

The Long Hello is a penetrating investigation into the mysteries of the mind and how it recoils and resurrects, revokes and reveals. Based in part on recorded conversations, this lyrical work is a paean of redemptive beauty which casts an unflinching eye back in time from childhood through to adulthood, illustrating the enduring influence of family, the complex bond between mothers and daughters, and how love can both nourish and consume. The Long Hello creates a shift in society's perception of those journeying through the challenges of a changing mind and offers a startling message of meaning, beauty and hope. Cathie Borrie traverses rich terrain as she unearths the hidden and often painful treasures of a life well lived: the shadows and joys of childhood, the relationships that leave us both illuminated and bereft, the love, longing and loss that surge to the fore when a parent is ailing. Memory, and the losing of it, serves as a powerful guide, and Borrie follows her mother's eccentric and poetic lead into the past, transformed by the unexpected brilliance of the elder woman's shifting dementia mind. A paean of redemptive beauty, The Long Hello cherishes the bond between mothers and daughters, and creates a startling change in society's perception of those journeying through Alzheimer's. "e;Immensely lyrical and moving . . . a powerful display of Cathie Borrie's talent as a writer."e;Steven Galloway, author of The Cellist of Sarajevo