Terminal House

Imagine an alien presence dismantling your mind by insidious degrees, stripping away a lifetime of knowledge, cherished memories, and human connections. Now imagine being intimately aware of the process, but helpless to arrest it. Would you be afraid?

For retired physician Ben Hunter, that alien presence is Alzheimer’s disease—and he is terrified.

Now a resident in a major geriatric center, Ben straddles an ever-widening gulf between a bland present and an idealized past, never quite certain which will support his weight. Against this backdrop, he meets Roxanne Austen, an 18-year-old student who both enriches his life and accelerates his descent into bewilderment.

With equal measures of frankness and humor, Terminal House illuminates the many challenges of aging, including dementia, death and dying, voluntary euthanasia, and romantic love.