Constance Hanstedt is an author, poet, and business owner living in Northern California. Her poetry has received numerous awards and has appeared in Calyx, Rattle, Naugatuck River Review, The Comstock Review, and many other literary journals. Her poem “Ode to Beige” was published in Diane Lockward’s The Crafty Poet (2013), a collection of poems, prompts, craft tips, and interviews. Don’t Leave Yet was a finalist in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association memoir competition in 2011.
“In this touching memoir, poet and writer Hanstedt tries to
reconcile her suddenly vulnerable mother, who is slipping into
Alzheimer's, with the strong-willed matriarch of her childhood.
When it becomes evident that her mother, once so decisive and sure,
is suffering from depression and memory loss, Hanstedt and her
older sister decide to move her (under protest) to an
assisted-living facility. The battles begin as their mother begs to
go home and complains constantly. As Hanstedt and her sister
inventory their childhood home for auction and sale, items remind
the author of growing up in a family that was often torn by her
parents' fights, her father's drinking, and her mother's demands.
Although the children weren't neglected, there seem to be few
moments of love and tenderness. Interweaving these memories with
the logistics of dealing with a lifetime of possessions and
heartbreaking health-care decisions, Hanstedt works to understand
her mother, forgive her actions, and accept her. Anyone dealing
with an aging parent will empathize with Hanstedt's struggles and
find comfort in her honesty.”
—Booklist
“Don’t Leave Yet is a moving memoir of a woman maturing into her
own independence, confidence, and connectedness as she cares for
her mother who is losing her identity through Alzheimer’s. As her
mother declines, Constance Hanstedt remembers back through her
childhood, rendering these scenes with precise and often
heartbreaking details. This is a story that is being lived out in
all its variations in so many families today, and Don’t Leave Yet
tells it with a clear and honest eye in a memoir that is graceful,
vivid, and deeply human.”
—Ellen Bass, author of Like a Beggar
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