Enter Mourning powerfully chronicles the author’s difficult journey through her mother's decline and death from an insidious condition. Heather Menzies and her siblings struggle as part of the sandwich generation that provides care for both their immediate family and their aging parents. From dismissing her mother’s dementia to moving her into a nursing home, Menzies must continuously shift her focus while dealing with difficult emotions raised by her brother and sister. Balancing poetic language and practical sensibilities, Enter Mourning limns a mother losing her grip on reality and a daughter coming to grips with her own as she chronicles her transformative journey from self-interested baby boomer to a “slower, more rhythmic language of touch, gesture, and cadence.”

Enter Mourning powerfully chronicles the author’s difficult journey through her mother's decline and death from an insidious condition. Heather Menzies and her siblings struggle as part of the sandwich generation that provides care for both their immediate family and their aging parents. From dismissing her mother’s dementia to moving her into a nursing home, Menzies must continuously shift her focus while dealing with difficult emotions raised by her brother and sister. Balancing poetic language and practical sensibilities, Enter Mourning limns a mother losing her grip on reality and a daughter coming to grips with her own as she chronicles her transformative journey from self-interested baby boomer to a “slower, more rhythmic language of touch, gesture, and cadence.”