Overview

""This is Hannah,"" Lynne Hugo introduces her chocolate Labrador retriever to an aged woman in a wheelchair at the Golden View Nursing Home. ""Would you like to pat her?"" ""I don't know,"" she responds warily. ""Dogs are complicated."" So, of course, is life, especially as the years accumulate and the body declines. In fact, the most painful complications are those that Hugo hopes to ease with Hannah, her exuberant therapy dog. What Hugo receives in return, unexpectedly, is an outpouring of stories as the residents respond to Hannah's antics and affection. As Hugo's involvement deepens, she begins to see her own life and her care for her elderly parents in a new perspective. Interweaving the elders' tales--of old loves and ancient dreams, abandonment and loneliness, and the struggle for dignity--with her own family's story, she creates a richly textured collective portrait of the often-hidden world of the aged. At the same time, she crafts an eloquent meditation on the fundamental human need to nurture and remain connected to other people, to animals, and to the natural world.Lynne Hugo is the author of two poetry collections, The Time Change and A Progress of Miracles and is the coauthor with Anna Tuttle Villegas of two novels, Swimming Lessons and Baby's Breath.

Full Product Details

9780803224322

Table of Contents

Reviews

A profound and heartfelt book... Hugo is a tender and wise guide to the realities of aging, and Hannah, her chocolate Labrador retriever, who brings love and life to residents of a Midwest nursing home, is a true charmer. Where the Trail Grows Faint charts the territory with a rare spirit of hope. --Floyd Skloot, author of In the Shadow of Memory Hugo describes a kind of magic--magic that brings the joy of living back into the lives of Elders living in nursing homes. Read her book and learn the secret. --William H. Thomas, M.D., author of What Are Old People For? How Elders Will Save the World Lynne Hugo has penned a story that truly touches my soul. Her poignant descriptions of life confined within the walls of a nursing home provide an accurate and unsettling picture of existence for many, many people in our nation--those who work and those who live in these institutions. --Sandy Ransom, Director, Texas Long Term Care Institute, Texas State University-San Marcos

"""A profound and heartfelt book... Hugo is a tender and wise guide to the realities of aging, and Hannah, her chocolate Labrador retriever, who brings love and life to residents of a Midwest nursing home, is a true charmer. Where the Trail Grows Faint charts the territory with a rare spirit of hope."" - Floyd Skloot, author of In the Shadow of Memory ""Hugo describes a kind of magic - magic that brings the joy of living back into the lives of Elders living in nursing homes. Read her book and learn the secret."" - William H. Thomas, M.D., author of What Are Old People For? How Elders Will Save the World ""Lynne Hugo has penned a story that truly touches my soul. Her poignant descriptions of life confined within the walls of a nursing home provide an accurate and unsettling picture of existence for many, many people in our nation - those who work and those who live in these institutions."" - Sandy Ransom, Director, Texas Long Term Care Institute, Texas State University-San Marcos"

Author Information

Lynne Hugo is the author of two poetry collections, The Time Change and A Progress of Miracles, and is the coauthor with Anna Tuttle Villegas of two novels, Swimming Lessons and Baby's Breath.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available