Out of Winter

The beautifully measured account of a woman's return to care for her ageing parents, unearthing old memories and new possibilities.

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'A beautifully written book...Essential reading' John Humphrys

'Carol Lee is a courageous writer. This book is both tender and tough-minded in its record of one woman's day by day journey through a universal experience' Maggie Gee

In a candid portrayal of the last years of her parents' lives, Carol Lee confronts the sense of loss - and longing - at the heart of her family, and perhaps all families.

They have often lived separately - in the UK, Africa, Egypt and the Middle East, her father's sudden illness and her mother's gradual memory loss bringing them together. Returning with her brother as adult 'children' - roles and boundaries between all of them changed - guilt and anger play their part in the two and a half years which follow. But Carol finds delight, too, in stories of her mother practising tango in the tiny kitchen of her childhood home, and she is humbled by her father's courage.

Snowbound winters, beach walks in Wales and African times are captured in this account of the turmoil of long-distance care. Along the road back to a parent's house, matters of memory, identity, grief - and renewal - are woven through four people's lives to reveal a rich legacy from the past.