What do you think?
Rate this book
In the Evening, We'll Dance: A Memoir in Essays on Love & Dementia
How does a loving, committed marriage survive the effects of dementia?
In her deeply personal and daringly original memoir, Anne-Marie Erickson lays bare the onset and eventual passing of her husband from dementia. Her writing is multidimensional, poetic as it weaves together fragments of word origins, mythologies, and Biblical passages. Infused with the author's love and compassion, this compelling memoir pierces the mysteries of living and dying. Yes, it's much about her husband's tragic affliction, but it also moves beyond that to where we can gain invaluable lessons on how to love and endure in the face of a debilitating illness.
In her deeply personal and daringly original memoir, Anne-Marie Erickson lays bare the onset and eventual passing of her husband from dementia. Her writing is multidimensional, poetic as it weaves together fragments of word origins, mythologies, and Biblical passages. Infused with the author's love and compassion, this compelling memoir pierces the mysteries of living and dying. Yes, it's much about her husband's tragic affliction, but it also moves beyond that to where we can gain invaluable lessons on how to love and endure in the face of a debilitating illness.
230 pages, Paperback
Published August 20, 2025
3 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 23, 2025
Anne Marie Erickson’s memoir is the work of a lifetime: 17 years of journaling throughout her husband’s decline, and the earned wisdom and deep reflection of the ten years since his passing. Her journals set the tone for the book. Each chapter title comes from something he said: “I still see in the eyes of my wife. Beautiful!” “Yesterday I knew who that was.” “Don’t forget the singing.” And of course, “In the Evening We’ll Dance.”
These brilliant essays move gracefully through neuroscience, spirituality, the nature of consciousness, the power of love, the mysteries of language. Erickson’s sentences and imagery are precise and illuminating. She’ll take a word or phrase, hold it up to the light, turn it this way and that, and help us to see it from every angle. I had to read this book just one short chapter at a time, each gave me so much to think about. Like so many of us, I too have watched loved ones live with dementia.
But this book isn’t so much about her husband’s illness as about their journey together, and her own journey of discovery. Weaving myth, folklore, philosophy and psychology into the fabric of her daily existence, Erickson’s tapestry becomes an invitation to us, to find our way.
These brilliant essays move gracefully through neuroscience, spirituality, the nature of consciousness, the power of love, the mysteries of language. Erickson’s sentences and imagery are precise and illuminating. She’ll take a word or phrase, hold it up to the light, turn it this way and that, and help us to see it from every angle. I had to read this book just one short chapter at a time, each gave me so much to think about. Like so many of us, I too have watched loved ones live with dementia.
But this book isn’t so much about her husband’s illness as about their journey together, and her own journey of discovery. Weaving myth, folklore, philosophy and psychology into the fabric of her daily existence, Erickson’s tapestry becomes an invitation to us, to find our way.
Displaying 1 of 1 review