Great Aunts and Armadillos

This is a book of hope and inspiration for all who may be called to look after someone suffering with dementia. It is the story of one family's eight year experience of looking after a much loved relative, and all that went with it. In these pages, the journey of a former 'old-school' nursing sister; one of the 'armadillos' of the title, is recounted from the time she was first observed to be acting 'a little oddly', to the time of her slow, but dignified, death in a North Yorkshire residential home. Rather than being a story of tragedy and despair, it is a family history containing many glimpses of hope and humour with numerous practical tips about how to approach caring for someone with this debilitating condition. It has been written by Scarborough based author, D.B. Lewis, the nephew of the story's main character, Sister Pat Botley SRN, as a testimonial to a most interesting and eccentric individual and as a way of acknowledging all those in the profession of care who so tirelessly devote their working lives to looking after other people's loved ones.

D.B. Lewis is a non-fiction author specialising in biography, reminiscence and all forms of 'life-writing'. His first book, 'A Little Bit of Trouble in London', was published by Valley Press in Scarborough, UK in 2014 followed by the editorship of 'Plotting Shed', an anthology of creative writing by students of the University of Hull in 2016. His play -- 'One Day in December' about Wilfred Owen, the First World War and the Bombardment of Scarborough, was first produced in 2014. Others works include two travel books on Croatia, a guide to 'Wilfred Owen in Scarborough' and a poetry collection. He has had a varied and rewarding working life and now writes full-time in a cottage on the North Yorkshire coast of the U.K.. His current works are 'Great Aunts and Armadillos'; a helpful glimpse into the journey of dementia, and a biographical study of 'The English'.