Speculative fiction. A novel about an old woman who mysteriously begins to get younger.
Tilly wakes up in the dark, alone and very frightened. She finds she is in a strange room inexplicably furnished in 1940s style. However did she get here? Has she somehow slipped into the past? Has she been kidnapped? Of one thing she is absolutely certain, she has never seen this place in her life before.
All in the Mind is a fascinating tale exploring the human capacity to overcome any obstacle, no matter how great, as long as you believe you can.
Tilly is part of an experiment working on a cure for Alzheimer's disease. She and most of the other patients taking part in the experiment seem to make a full recovery, but there is a strange side effect.
Tilly and her fellow experimental subjects appear to be getting younger.
Can the same experiment be repeated for Tilly's beloved husband so that he can recover from a stroke? Tilly thinks it can and she will move heaven and earth to make sure it happens.
A charming and thought-provoking story full of reminiscences of a bygone age, All in the Mind also deals with the dilemmas posed by new developments in a society whose culture is geared to the idea that the natural span of a human life is three-score years and ten.
Excerpt
Tilly was dreaming.
It was VE Day and they were dancing in the streets. All the lights were lit. She kept looking at them, not quite believing it.
She was dancing with Johnny, her head against his chest, exhilarated by his closeness and the knowledge that the war was over.
It was so real, the dream. She could feel the rough fabric of his greatcoat against her cheek, smell its particular aroma of damp wool and tobacco.
She felt the dream slipping away and tried to hold on to it, but it escaped her grasp and shifted seamlessly into memory.
They had danced late into the night. Long after the gates to the nurses' home were locked. Eventually, exhausted and intoxicated with the euphoria of the crowd, they had walked back to the nurses' home and he had given her a leg up to climb the wall.
And as she sat at the top of the wall, one leg on each side, getting ready to swing over to the other side, he had grasped her by the ankle and said, “Will you marry me, Tilly? As soon as I'm demobbed.”
She looked down at his face, illuminated by the one street lamp in the lane, one lock of hair hanging over his forehead, his expression earnest and pleading.
She said the first thing that came into her head. “You're supposed to get down on one knee.”
“OK,” he said, with a grin, and dropped down on one knee. Did he know? Did he know then what her answer would be?
“Tilly”... he began in a loud, theatrical voice.
“No, get up,” she whispered urgently. “Someone might hear.”
“Who cares? What are they going to do – sack you?”
She smiled back at him in the lamplight. “You fool!”
And she pulled her leg out of his grasp and dropped gracefully down to the grass on the other side.
“Well?” His head appeared over the top of the wall. “Will you?”
“Yes,” she whispered back to him. Then she picked up the skirts of her uniform and ran across the lawn towards the darkened building.
As she ran, she heard someone whistling the Wedding March, the sound fading as he reached the end of the lane and turned into the street.
Professional Reviews
A Treat
In this day and age, it is rare to find and recognize true love, but Tilly and Johnny aren't of this day and age. In their golden years, each battles a type of disease that immobilizes the brain, rendering its victims helpless, dependent, and lost to the world.
I read All in The Mind with trepidation. Tilly and Johnny were well developed and 3 dimensional that I believed them (their house, their lives, their outfits, their food) to be real, which heightened my apprehension of a sad ending. I was immersed in the story.
All in the Mind will take you on a mind trip, one from which you won't want to return. The transformation of Tilly from a poor and lonely young woman, to an older and more confident version of herself was remarkable. I hardly felt the transition. Even after the onset of Alzheimer disease, I was so absorbed in her that I felt her fear and confusion upon waking up.
As always, Jenny Twist's fiction is an addictive treat that's tightly woven to draw the readers in and keep them there. If you're in the mood for something touching, sweet, and real, then All in the Mind is the right read for you.
A Tale of Love that Lasts a Lifetime
Warning! Get out the tissues before you begin this book. This book moved me more than any other in recent memory, not because it was sad, although some scenes were very tragic, but because of the depth of emotion I felt for the characters, and the lasting love they share. Even though the hero and heroine are in their golden years, I had no trouble identifying with them, or hoping that a miracle would happen to save Tilly from her Alzheimer's disease, and John from physical limitations caused by stroke. Any other author might not have been to pull of the miracle that takes place in this book, but Mrs. Twist does it winningly with deft strokes of plot, strongly built secondary characters, and a well-researched plethora of historical and medical facts. I dare anyone to read this book and not be moved to tears of joy. Bravo!
A wonderful tale
One of the great things about Jenny Twist's stories is the attention she pays to small details in presenting the past. She creates people and settings that buzz with life and colour so you get a little piece of social history alongside a great story.
And this is a great story. I loved it! Tilly's life and love in war-torn London and the pastoral idyll of Little Morpeth in those early post-war years comes vividly to life from the very first page. It's impossible not to love the characters, Tilly and Johnny, Dorothy and James above all. But anyone who knows this writer's work is aware from the outset that this is not going to be a straightforward story of young love and domestic bliss - though these are the themes that underpin the novel.
No, 'Tilly was dreaming', we are reminded from the start and while half of me didn't want Tilly to wake up from her wonderful dream and face whatever reality awaited her, the other half was constantly waiting for her to do so. And when she did, the most wonderful adventure of Tilly's life began to happen and I was entranced.
It involves a rich array of characters with aspirations and callings of their own, each one beautifully presented like richly-coloured satellites around Tilly and Johnny on their amazing journey. I'm tempted to talk about the plot but must restrain myself so that I don't create spoilers. Anyway, it's a discovery other readers really must make for themselves. I don't think anyone will be disappointed.
A wonderful tale from a consummate story-teller. I loved it. If only, if only it could be real.
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