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The Stories Grandma Forgot (And How I Found Them)

Book Synopsis

From an award-winning poet comes a gripping mystery. “Grandma Farida has Alzheimer’s – but I’m going to help her remember a huge secret…”

Twelve-year-old Nyla’s dad died when she was four, or that’s what she’s been told. So when Grandma Farida insists she saw him in the local supermarket, Nyla wonders if Grandma is simply “time travelling” again – the phrase she uses when Grandma forgets.

But Grandma is Nyla’s best friend and when she asks Nyla to find her dad and bring him home, Nyla decides to make a brand new promise to her Grandma: to find him.

As Nyla turns detective and sets out on a journey through her family’s past to try and find the truth, she also hopes that uncovering important stories will help her understand who she is, and where she fits in the world …

A page-turning verse novel about the power of memory and story-telling, and an unbreakable bond between a grandmother and granddaughter.

Our Review Panel says...

This is book is a delight; it tells a truthful but heartwarming tale of Nyla, her newfound friend and her grandma who is slipping further away as Alzheimer’s takes control.

Nyla has lived with the information that her Dad died when she was only four, but recent events cause her to question whether there is a chance that Dad is still alive. Nyla sets out on a mission to uncover the truth and, in doing so, makes a new friend in the form of Raymond, a boy who she discovers sitting in her local library and a boy who will help her to bring pieces of a puzzle together again.

Written in the form of a poem, this is a story which zips along and is hard to put down. It is honest and accurate in the way in which it portrays the effects of Alzheimer’s – Grandma ‘time travels’ as she clings to the past but forgets the present. The relationship that Nyla has with her Grandma is really moving; Nyla takes on the role of carer as her Mum is working hard to make ends meet. Nyla knows how best to soothe when Grandma is confused and agitated, she laughs and dances with Grandma when she is happy but Nyla is unable to do the one thing that matters most to her – she can’t unlock Grandma’s memories to allow her to know the truth about her father.

When Grandma starts to see Dad in unusual places, Nyla turns detective and starts digging for clues to find the truth. As the story unfolds, she has to deal with bullies, racism and conflicting loyalties. It is a story that is honest and real; it tackles issues that children will know and understand and it does so with sensitivity, honesty and sometimes humour. Readers will find it hard to put down as they bond with Nyla and will join her in her desire to find a happy ending. I found this story to be really compelling and finished it in two days – not because of its form but because I really cared about Nyla and her quest.

For anyone who has life has been touched by Alzheimer’s, there is plenty to bring comfort and much to relate to. Nyla does find her happy ending but maybe not in the way the reader would expect.