Winter Stars

 "A deeply moving account of a 10 year caregiving odyssey ... As Iverson depicts in heartrending scenes, those years were never without their difficulties ... but there are also glimmers of joy ... This cannily conveys the nuances of living with and loving someone at the end of their life." – Publisher's Weekly

Winter Stars is a gift — a modern classic of frontier literature documenting the uncertain journey into the country of caregiving. That Dave walked this path while himself living with neurological illness is remarkable, but his story will resonate with everyone who has grappled up close with a parent or loved one’s end of life. Adelaide Iverson comes through on the page as vividly as she must have in life — this is a portrait that would do any mother proud. I’m grateful to Dave for sharing his fresh and honest take on sickness and health, mothers and sons, and the deeply sustaining bonds of familial love. — Michael J. Fox

This account of a loving son taking care of his mother in her final years is beautiful, moving, and so full of the spirit of the woman at its center that readers will feel they knew her. Dave Iverson has written the kind of memoir people will buy in quantity, to have on hand to give friends when they—and their parents—arrive at life’s most difficult juncture. Honest, comforting, and true, Winter Stars is a testament to the power of family love. — Ann Packer, best-selling author of The Dive from Clausen’s Pier and Songs Without Words

My former PBS colleague Dave Iverson, whom I have known as a gifted broadcaster and filmmaker, decided at age 59 to move in with and care for his equally determined 95-year-old mother, whose dementia was eroding her quick wit and intelligence. Winter Stars recounts Dave’s caregiving odyssey, which, over ten years, broke open his heart. The resulting memoir is a love story you won't soon forget. — Elizabeth Farnsworth, former chief correspondent for The PBS NewsHour and author of “A Train Through Time.”

Winter Stars is the story of the indomitable Adelaide, a woman of the American century who is nearing her own century mark, and her son Dave, who puts his own busy life on pause to become her full-time caregiver. In so doing, Dave enters a world where he learns that loyalty and love are not always enough. A deeply moving memoir, Winter Stars is still more than that — it is a guide to finding the help we all need, in one way or another, as life poses new and different challenges. — Ron Elving, Senior Editor and Correspondent, NPR