MEMORY ROAD
Despite knowing it’s a mad idea, Lily agrees to take her mother
on one last road trip around the UK.
geni.us/memoryroad
This trip will be challenging because Lily’s mother can no longer be described as ‘just a bit forgetful’: Moira has started talking to imaginary friends and singing Abba songs in public, and last week she began emptying boxes of cereal onto the floor in the supermarket.
Lily is worried and embarrassed by her mother’s behaviour but, despite her recent dementia diagnosis, Moira is happy – albeit in a sweary sort of way – and insists the journey will help her write a memoir.
As they trundle across the country in an ancient VW campervan, Lily feels the strain as she struggles to deal with her mother’s decline, her own daughter’s criticism and her ex-husband’s upcoming wedding plans to a younger woman. One night, leaving Moira alone in the hotel, Lily meets a man in a bar and, for the first time in years, she feels alive.
This road trip was intended to celebrate the past. But will it end in crisis, or might Lily’s chance encounter help build a new future for this fractured family?