Book review – Four Umbrellas

Four Umbrellas:  A Couple’s Journey into Young-Onset Alzheimer’s by June Hutton and Tony Wanless  Dundurn Press, 2020  

Reviewed by Janet Nicol

Caregiving for a spouse – as opposed to a parent – has its own specific stories and heartbreaks. June Hutton, a Vancouver-based novelist and teacher, has experienced both. The author’s mother had Alzheimer’s in her final years and then her spouse, Tony Wanless unknowingly was struck with “young-onset” Alzheimer’s prior to his retirement from the Vancouver Province, aged 53. Fourteen years would pass before Wanless received a diagnosis in 2017, allowing him and Hutton to fully understand his inexplicable episodes— such as when Wanless packed a suitcase with four umbrellas.

So begins my review of ‘Four Umbrellas’ for Senior Line magazine, March 2021 issue. The magazine is available in print at various locations in Vancouver and on-line at the Senior Line magazine website. (You can also click on hyperlink ‘Senior Line Archive’ below book cover image on this post.)

Senior Line Archive

Tags: Young-Onset Alzheimers; caregiving issues; medical patients and self-advocacy