Forget Me Not is both piercing and charming. It gets inside you and makes you ache and smile. It is the sort of story that the French are so wonderful at doing.

Alzheimer is a horrible condition and the book doesn’t shy away from the pain that it causes. Decisions need to be made about care, the simmering tension of not knowing if the decisions are in the best interests of the loved one you are putting into an institution or simply one that makes your life more convenient.

Much of Forget Me Not is about how we lose intimacy with parents as we grow older. Small acts of fondness like resting your head on your mum’s shoulder become few and far between. Alzheimer hastens this as the memories that bind a family together are become obscured. Clem cannot bear seeing her grandmother in this state. At the heart of Forget Me Not are Clem’s attempts to reconnect one last time with Grammy. Clem’s desire to do right by her grandmother is noble but causes her to do things that are utterly foolish putting both of them in danger.

The painterly watercolours of Garin’s art are warm and inviting. There’s a bright airiness to many of the images. The linework is unfussy and simple so much detail and indeed the ambience is reliant on the graceful colouring. Garin art moves from tear inducingly sad images to cheerful buffoonery with equal mastery. There is a tenderness to illustrations that creates a sort of profound synchronicity with the plot. A particular moment that touched me was when Clem was giving Grammy a bath. The vulnerability of both of them in those panels resonated with me.

Forget Me Not is a wonderful novel. It is a story told with compassion and hope. The sadness of losing a loved one is awful and it doesn’t shy away from this. The messiness of it all. The crux of the tale is how we make their final moments of life as full of contentment and joy as possible. The way people die matters. After all, it is the memories of their final moments that linger with us long after. Forget Me Not is a joyous and melancholy exploration of coming to terms with a terminal illness. A funny, eloquent, and uplifting book about grief.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Please condsider buying the book using this link.