Winter Solstice

About the Book

We take our memory for granted. Dementia will steal it in ways most of us could never imagine. Winter Solstice by Diana Howard burrows deep into the heart-rendering poetic journey of a daughter trying to love and help her mother who is slowly losing her memory. Through poems and vignettes written over a period of 15 years, the reader will enter a world of denial, confusion, shame, fear, humor, sacrifice, patience and love – finding solace and empathy with an experience many of us go through, yet struggle to find words to describe.

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Reviews

"While Winter Solstice will likely appear in collections geared to contemporary poets, it also deserves a place in any literary library alongside reflections of family and dementia experiences. Its powerful voice offers a perspective many similar attempts don't begin to match."

Midwest Book Review

"Winter Solstice makes dementia’s deep hollowing out of the soul understandable."

Independent Book Review

"There is joy and sorrow in these poems, as well as a touch of humor, but the struggle to find dignity in this dreadful, mindless disease leads the poet and her mother through periods of denial, confusion, and even shame... Absolutely sublime, beautiful, and, yes, dreadful."

Readers' Favorite

"Reading the poems in this collection is like running one's fingers over elegant lace and tracing every pattern slowly and carefully to absorb each stitch...Confessionalist in subject matter but transcendentalist in its imagery...Seasoned poetry readers will find traces of Mary Oliver in this book, and those readers living with loved ones suffering from dementia will find a place of comfort and understanding in this work."

The US Review of Books

"Focusing on one daughter's experience, Howard achieves a more universal resonance, as even readers not steeped in contemporary poetry will find much to relate to...A brief, tightly focused collection that can be read in one sitting or savored and explored over time, Winter Solstice will elicit deep thought and feeling from its readers."

BookLife