Reeling from the tragic loss of her only son and suffering still from the effects of a bad marriage, now dissolved, Anna Delaney survives and triumphs with the help of her aged father, good friends, and her lover

Anna Delaney's Child

Literature & Fiction

Thondike, John

Thorndike, John

United States

MacMillan Publishing Company

Soon after the birth of their son, Janir, John Thorndike's wife began a terrifying and dangerous drift into schizophrenia. Realizing that the only way to protect Janir was to take him away from his mother, Thorndike found his way through the pratfalls of child rearing alone. All who have experienced the wrench of mental illness in the family will recognize their own journey in Thorndike's heartfelt and heroic story of fatherhood.

Another Way Home: A Family's Journey Through Mental Illness

Biographies & Memoirs

Penguin??Books

"The air was clean, the fields vacant, the horizon lined with poplares. In the windless sky above, clouds hung as white as shirts. But all Austin could think of was his absent wife and son." A powerful novel of love, marriage and the ties that bind men and women together, The Potato Baron asks a timely question: in a marriage of equal partners, who decides where and how to live? Austin Pooler is Harvard educated, prosperous, in love with his wife, Fay, and devoted to their two children. He hopes always to live in his ancestral farmhouse on the remote, fruitful land in the raw northern tip of Maine where he was raised. To him it is the most beautiful place on earth. But on the sunny spring morning when his wife leaves both Maine and him, taking their eight-year-old son with her to an unknown destination, he is faced with a wrenching choice: He can have his wife or his potato farm, not both.

The Potato Baron

Villard

Meet Anna Delaney, a smart, loving woman whose life is shattered when her car skids on some unexpected ice-the last remnants of winter-and her nine-year-old son Kevin is killed. Reeling from this loss and bruised by the effects of a now-defunct marriage, Anna must create a new life without dishonoring the old. Her good friends, her heartbreaking work on an Ohio farm, and her attentions to her father-who is mourning the loss of his wife, Anna's mother-cannot fill the gap left by young Kevin. And Anna's neurotic ex-husband, Paul, the boy's father, is both a constant unpleasant reminder of the past and a threat to Anna's future happiness. Anna's first tentative steps toward romantic passion are mirrored by her father's budding affair with a much younger woman. Father and daughter discover in each other and in their lovers newfound emotional support. But love is not the only emotion Anna must confront: the dangerous Paul forces her to take an uncomfortable stand for the right to her own memory of Kevin. In the book's exciting climax, Anna narrowly avoids a violent confrontation and attains a victory that is both thoroughly satisfying and completely believable. In his wise moving debut novel John Thorndike presents an unusually accurate portrait of life in America's heartland and creates one of the most memorable women characters in recent fiction

Plume

"The air was clean, the fields vacant, the horizon lined with poplares. In the windless sky above, clouds hung as white as shirts. But all Austin could think of was his absent wife and son." A powerful novel of love, marriage and the ties that bind men and women together, The Potato Baron asks a timely question: in a marriage of equal partners, who decides where and how to live? Austin Pooler is Harvard educated, prosperous, in love with his wife, Fay, and devoted to their two children. He hopes always to live in his ancestral farmhouse on the remote, fruitful land in the raw northern tip of Maine where he was raised. To him it is the most beautiful place on earth. But on the sunny spring morning when his wife leaves both Maine and him, taking their eight-year-old son with her to an unknown destination, he is faced with a wrenching choice: He can have his wife or his potato farm, not both.

Random House Value Publishing

Staekly honest and deeply moving, this is John Thorndike's riveting story of raising his son alone as his wife slides inexorably into madness. John discovered early on how all-consuming it is to raise a child. Yet the rewards were enormous, and seldom has a child been so alive on a page.

Another Way Home: A Single Father's Story

Parenting & Relationships

Parenting

Crown

Families are changing and are increasingly headed by men raising their children alone.  This is John Thorndike's story, a rare view of the world of a single father.  Thorndike was a twenty-four-year-old Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador in 1967 when he met Clarisa, a vibrant and lovely Salvadoran girl, just nineteen.  They fell in love, married, and in 1970 their son, Janir, was born.  For the first year, Clarisa was devoted to her baby.  But slowly she began a terrifying drift into schizophrenia, behaving in ways that endangered her son's life. Fearing for his safety, Thorndike made the wrenching decision to bring Janir back to the United States and raise him alone.

Another Way Home (Niagara Large Print Hardcovers)

Ulverscroft Large Print Books

The Last of His Mind: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer’s

Joe Thorndike was managing editor of Life at the height of its popularity immediately following World War II. He was the founder of American Heritage and Horizon magazines, the author of three books, and the editor of a dozen more. But at age 92, in the space of six months he stopped reading or writing or carrying on detailed conversations. He could no longer tell time or make a phone call. He was convinced that the governor of Massachusetts had come to visit and was in the refrigerator.
Five million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, and like many of them, Joe Thorndike’s one great desire was to remain in his own house. To honor his wish, his son John left his own home and moved into his father’s upstairs bedroom on Cape Cod. For a year, in a house filled with file cabinets, photos, and letters, John explored his father’s mind, his parents’ divorce, and his mother’s secrets. The Last of His Mind is the bittersweet account of a son’s final year with his father, and a candid portrait of an implacable disease.
It’s the ordeal of Alzheimer’s that draws father and son close, closer than they have been since John was a boy. At the end, when Joe’s heart stops beating, John’s hand is on his chest, and a story of painful decline has become a portrait of deep family ties, caregiving, and love.

Professionals & Academics

SWALLOW PRESS+

ForeWord Book of the Year Award winner A Publishers Weekly “Indie Top 20” The Washington Post: A Best Book of 2009 2010 Ohioana Book Award Finalist Joe Thorndike was managing editor of Life at the height of its popularity immediately following World War II. He was the founder of American Heritage and Horizon magazines, the author of three books, and the editor of a dozen more. But at age 92, in the space of six months he stopped reading or writing or carrying on detailed conversations. could no longer tell time or make a phone call. was convinced that the governor of Massachusetts had come to visit and was in the refrigerator. Five million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, and like many of them, Joe Thorndike’s one great desire was to remain in his own house. To honor this wish, his son John left his own home and moved into his father’s upstairs bedroom on Cape Cod. For a year, in a house filled with file cabinets, photos, and letters, John explored his father’s mind, his parents’ divorce, and his mother’s secrets. The Last of His Mind is the bittersweet account of a son’s final year with his father, and a candid portrait of an implacable disease. It is the ordeal of Alzheimer’s that draws father and son close, closer than they have been since John was a boy. At the end, when Joe’s heart stops beating, John’s hand is on his chest, and a story of painful decline has become a portrait of deep family ties, caregiving, and love.

Aging Parents

Review\n“A brave, moving story of a son’s devotion to his dying father…. Thorndike’s prose is serenely beautiful and his patience in caring for an Alzheimer’s patient is extremely admirable. An affecting work of emotional honesty and forgiveness.”—Kirkus Reviews\n“The first few pages of The Last of His Mind are dynamite, in their quiet way. They open up a world that, if you've known it and lived in it, conks you on the head, bashes your memory, brings it all back in a rush… This memoir is far too elegantly written to ever state it directly, but the reader is made aware of the high honor involved: The author honors his father in the most profound way and is blessed, in turn, by participating in the most taxing event in his father’s life.”—Washington Post\n“A beautiful book, this memoir reveals the painful chaos of Alzheimer’s, as well as the strength, faith and unexpected joys that come with caring for a loved one in his last days.”—Publishers Weekly\n"John Thorndike’s memoir is a wonderfully detailed episodic account of his father’s ordeal with Alzheimer’s … an honest and powerful portrayal of the effects of the combination of old age and Alzheimer’s disease and the love between a son and his father.”—Foreword Reviews\nThe second, expanded edition of this acclaimed memoir by an Alzheimer’s caregiver living with his father during his final year includes a new introduction that illustrates the immense toll of the disease, important lessons from the author’s experience, and a readers' guide. 
Joe Thorndike was managing editor of Life at the height of its popularity immediately following World War II. He was the founder of American Heritage and Horizon magazines, the author of three books, and the editor of a dozen more. But at age ninety-two, in the space of six months he stopped reading or writing or carrying on detailed conversations. He could no longer tell time or make a phone call. He was convinced that the governor of Massachusetts had come to visit and was in the refrigerator. 
Over six million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, and like many of them, Joe Thorndike’s one great desire was to remain in his own house. To honor his wish, his son John left his own home and moved into his father’s upstairs bedroom on Cape Cod. For a year, in a house filled with file cabinets, photos, and letters, John explored his father’s mind, his parents’ divorce, and his mother’s secrets. The Last of His Mind is the bittersweet account of a son’s final year with his father and a candid portrait of an implacable disease. 
It’s the ordeal of Alzheimer’s that draws father and son close, closer than they have been since John was a boy. At the end, when Joe’s heart stops beating, John’s hand is on his chest, and a story of painful decline has become a portrait of deep family ties, caregiving, and love.

The Last of His Mind, Second Edition: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer’s

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Thorndike, John. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Thorndike, John

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Thorndike, John. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Anna Delaney's Child

Another Way Home: A Family's Journey Through Mental Illness

The Potato Baron

Anna Delaney's Child

The Potato Baron

Another Way Home: A Single Father's Story

Another Way Home (Niagara Large Print Hardcovers)

The Last of His Mind: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer’s

The Last of His Mind: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer’s

The Last of His Mind, Second Edition: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer’s