I Remain in Darkness

It was in 1983 that Annie Ernaux's mother fell ill. The stopped eating and within a few days was unable to care for herself. Frightened but hopeful that her mother would regain her dynamic health, Ernaux moved the once-independent woman into her own home. This collection of relentlessly honest journal entries traces the descent of Ernaux's mother into the depths of Alzheimer's disease and reveals the author's complex feelings of guilt and pain.

An influential writer in the genre of confessional memoir, Ernaux offers her heartfelt prose in describing her struggle to explore questions about death and parent-child role reversal. This honest self-examination provides readers with a window into the complexities of their own inner beings.