The Wide Circumference of Love: A Novel

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Description

From acclaimed author Marita Golden comes a moving African-American family drama of love and devotion in the face of Alzheimer's disease. You just can't plan for this kind of thing. Diane Tate certainly hasn't. She never expected to slowly lose her talented husband to the debilitating effects of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. As a respected family court judge, she's spent her life making tough calls, but when her sixty-eight-year-old husband's health worsens and Diane is forced to move him into an assisted living facility, it seems her world is spinning out of control. As Gregory's memory wavers and fades, Diane and her children must reexamine their connection to the man he once was--and learn to love the man he has become. For Diane' daughter Lauren, it means honoring her father by following in his footsteps as a successful architect. For her son Sean, it means finding a way to repair the strained relationship with his father before it's too late. Supporting her children in a changing landscape, Diane remains resolute in her goal to keep her family together--until her husband finds love with another resident of the facility. Suddenly faced with an uncertain future, Diane must choose a new path--and discover her own capacity for love.

Reviews

Praise for The Wide Circumference of Love: "Golden's redemptive novel is a tale of family survival in which love softens the brutal edges of an insidious disease." - Kirkus reviews "A deeply resonant and important novel that everyone should read. Marita Golden writes with unsurpassed grace and humanity about Alzheimer's, family, the burden of memory and the enduring power of love." - Julie Otsuka, bestselling author of The Buddha in the Attic "This is a story that will linger in the heart long after the last page is read." - Elizabeth Nunez, author of Even in Paradise "In clear, captivating prose, this distinctive and hopeful voice--a voice essential to the canon of Alzheimer's literature--tells an absorbing story of family disintegration, redemption, hope, and renewal, all made possible through the vehicle of love." - Cathie Borrie, author of The Long Hello: Memory, My Mother, and Me "In Marita Golden's heartbreaking new novel The Wide Circumference of Love, the Tate family faces the loss of their once unshakable patriarch as the disease transforms him into someone they hardly recognize ... In the hands of Ms. Golden, their path to understanding and renewal slowly reveals the strength of family, the power of love and the mystery of redemption." - Pearl Cleage, author of What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day "Marita Golden's exceptional new novel takes an honest and unsparing look at the devastation Alzheimer's Disease causes in even the most caring and accomplished of families. Remarkably, it also celebrates the meaning, healing, hope--and even joy--that may still be found in the lives of everyone involved." - Jean Hegland, author of Into the Forest and Still Time "Heartbreakingly beautiful, The Wide Circumference of Love is filled with hope and happiness." -- Bernice L. McFadden, author of The Book of Harlan Praise for Marita Golden's writing: "It is always heartening to see women step up to the writer's table. When the results are as adroit and affecting as Marita Golden's work, it is more than satisfying it is a cause for celebration." - Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison "Marita Golden has captured the special pain that shadows the joy of Black parenthood in these turbulent times. Elegantly written this book is a breakthrough." - Chicago Tribune on Saving Our Sons "[Long Distance Life is] a novel of impressive artistry and power." - Washington Post "A wonderful storyteller, an uncompromising mind, Marita Golden explores the African-American experience in a completely original way." - Newsweek "Marita Golden writes with a fine hand." - Newsday "An acclaimed chronicler of Black women's lives." - Kirkus Reviews "Golden has a rare gift for the poetry of language." - San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle "Golden's women are altogether knowable and most unforgettable: their struggle to find their way back to some tiny form of normalcy will make a place in a reader's memory and heart." --Edward P. Jones, Author of The Known World

Author Bio

Marita Golden is an acclaimed, award-winning author of more than a dozen works of fiction and nonfiction. As a teacher of writing she has served as a member of the faculties of George Mason University, Virginia Commonwealth University, the Fairfield University, and Johns Hopkins University. She co-founded and serves as president emeritus of Hurston/Wright Foundation. She is the recipient of many awards including the Writers for Writers Award presented by Barnes & Noble and Poets & Writers, and the Fiction Award for her novel After awarded by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.