The Old King in His Exile

"How do we keep one another's company? How might our lives unfold alongside those of our parents with Alzheimer's nearby? In Arno Geiger's exquisite memoir, he lets us into the private and sometimes sacred space he found in the company of his father--a relationship nurtured by his own willingness to share a mutual solitude, and to visit those places where his father's spirit was broken and where it thrived. The tender stories in The Old King in His Exile hold the quiet love between these men, and invite the reader to apprehend more of what it can mean, even in our final days, to be alive."
--Adrian Nicole Leblanc, author of Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble and Coming of Age in the Bronx


Arno Geiger's father was never an easy man to know. Born into a farming family in Austria and conscripted into World War II as a seventeen-year-old "schoolboy soldier," he was later reticent about the past. When he developed Alzheimer's, Arno realized he was not going to ask for help: "As my father can no longer cross the bridge into my world, I have to go over to his." In this intelligent, moving, and often-funny memoir, he recounts his journey to get to know his father at last. Arno remains at his side, listens to his words, which are often full of unexpected poetry, and discovers that despite everything, his father has not lost his wit, charm, and self-assurance.

Awash with light and full of warmth and insight, The Old King in His Exile is a wonderfully affecting story that will offer solace to anyone who has struggled with losing a loved one.