Ask the Author: Bobby Palmer
Answered Questions (1)
Bobby Palmer
That’s really touching to hear, thank you. The answer is all of the above!
Gerry’s character originally came out of a desire for this story to explore memory, and communication, and how both can deceive us – through two male characters who struggle to speak to one another, and who both have differing interpretations of events in their past. So Gerry isn’t an “autobiographical” character per se, though I did draw on certain real-life experiences to colour him in.
For that same reason, and for the purpose of artistic license, I decided not to specifically name Gerry’s condition, although I did do lots of research into dementia and Alzheimer’s. I’m indebted to the factual help I received from the brilliant charity Dementia UK, as well as resources from Age UK and the Alzheimer’s Society, and the writings of the dementia campaigner Wendy Mitchell. All of these allowed me to create Gerry’s mind as I thought it might be, especially leaning into the places where the boundaries between present and past, experience and memory, are broken down.
In essence, Gerry is living his entire life at once, and I wanted to try and present some of the wonder of that. So yes, there’s a degree of wishful thinking... but I like to think it’s informed wishful thinking!
Gerry’s character originally came out of a desire for this story to explore memory, and communication, and how both can deceive us – through two male characters who struggle to speak to one another, and who both have differing interpretations of events in their past. So Gerry isn’t an “autobiographical” character per se, though I did draw on certain real-life experiences to colour him in.
For that same reason, and for the purpose of artistic license, I decided not to specifically name Gerry’s condition, although I did do lots of research into dementia and Alzheimer’s. I’m indebted to the factual help I received from the brilliant charity Dementia UK, as well as resources from Age UK and the Alzheimer’s Society, and the writings of the dementia campaigner Wendy Mitchell. All of these allowed me to create Gerry’s mind as I thought it might be, especially leaning into the places where the boundaries between present and past, experience and memory, are broken down.
In essence, Gerry is living his entire life at once, and I wanted to try and present some of the wonder of that. So yes, there’s a degree of wishful thinking... but I like to think it’s informed wishful thinking!
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