The Glory Walk is more than a memoir about Cathryn
E. Smith’s father. It is a multi-layered narrative that captures readers
and propels them into the heart of a powerful story. Using an absorbing
blend of creative styles and unusual imagery, Smith gives voice not only
to each person in the story but also to the Alzheimer's disease that steals
her father's life. Her distinctive writing style weaves prose, letters,
conversations, poems, and music into an extraordinary literary experience
that starts with fractured memories and ends with a life-affirming picture
of one man's and one family's "glory walk."
“Smith grants her father the dignity of her memory. She arranges
a collage—dreamscape, childhood memories, and more, even the imagined
chaotic interior voice of the disease itself—into a tribute. It’s
fascinating how we get to know this family…. Everyone comes alive.
I hope this book gets the attention it deserves!”—Judith
Kitchen, author, The House on Eccles Road
“The Glory Walk will crush and rebuild your heart
on each page. It is superbly written, vivid, achingly honest, with a plainness
and vitality that can come only from genuine feeling.”—M.
Garrett Bauman, author, Ideas and Details
“The ultimate power of [Smith’s] language is not just to recreate this dark side of the human experience, but it enables us to transcend the pain and horror to discover the beauty, the love, the worth of the struggle…. This power and beauty comes across through [Smith’s] original and striking use of language. It enables her and us to endure the most unendurable.” —Robert H. Herzog, Professor of English
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of Contents