The Tears We Never Cried

The Tears We Never Cried is a fiction story inspired by real life and by a frightening truth. Dementia strikes the homes and hearts of more than 25,000 Canadians yearly, mostly in the form of Alzheimer’s. It struck home for the author with her father’s twenty-year journey with the disease. And, it was while running back-up for her mother, that she thought of how different things would be if a grown child were the sole caregiver of the parent. From that, The Tears We Never Cried was born. Cassandra McDowall’s mother has been forgetful for a while, but she never anticipated rapid-onset Alzheimer’s to come out of nowhere and shake their world to its very core. As Cassie puts her already-lackluster life on hold to care for her mother, her mother’s indomitable will and spirit of adventure prove to be a handful. As her mother fades, the two embark on one last adventure—a journey that reveals family secrets on the brink of being lost, the joy of foreign sunsets, and for Cassandra, an awakening and a new definition of what family, and love, really mean.