Elizabeth Berg: I’ll Be Seeing You

New York Times bestselling author ELIZABETH BERG presents her new memoir I’ll Be Seeing You, a beautifully written, poignant love story of caring for her parents in their final years. This program takes place November 16 at 6:30 pm Central, register for the program here.

More about I’ll Be Seeing You:

Elizabeth Berg’s father was an Army veteran who was a tough man in every way but one: He showed a great deal of love and tenderness to his wife. Berg describes her parents’ marriage as a romance that lasted for nearly seventy years; she grew up watching her father kiss her mother upon leaving home, and kiss her again the instant he came back. His idea of when he should spend time away from her was never.

But then Berg’s father developed Alzheimer’s disease, and her parents were forced to leave the home they loved and move into a facility that could offer them help. It was time for the couple’s children to offer, to the best of their abilities, practical advice, emotional support, and direction—to, in effect, parent the people who had for so long parented them. It was a hard transition, mitigated at least by flashes of humor and joy. The mix of emotions on everyone’s part could make every day feel like walking through a minefield. Then came redemption.

I’ll Be Seeing You charts the passage from the anguish of loss to the understanding that even in the most fractious times, love can heal, transform, and lead to graceful—and grateful—acceptance.

Praise for I’ll Be Seeing You:

“With her trademark compassion, humor, affirmation, and grace, Elizabeth Berg renders her own family’s experience in such a natural and bountiful way that it connects seamlessly to the reader’s own. It pierces, this book, in all the right places.”
—Jessica Treadway, author of The Gretchen Question

“I’ll Be Seeing You moved me and broadened my understanding of the human condition.”
—Wally Lamb, author of I Know This Much Is True

“Elizabeth Berg’s brave and beautiful memoir is proof that the heart, like a bone, can be broken and heal stronger. Unflinchingly honest, Berg walks into the tangled forest of sorrow and frustration familiar to anyone who’s had to contend with the end of their parents’ lives, and emerges with the understanding that love and loss are the two sides of any life well lived.”
—Mark Slouka, author of Lost Lake and Essays from the Nick of Time

ELIZABETH BERG is the author of many bestselling novels, including The Story of Arthur Truluv, Open House (an Oprah’s Book Club selection), Talk Before Sleep, and The Year of Pleasures, as well as the short story collection The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted. Durable Goods and Joy School were selected as ALA Best Books of the Year. She adapted The Pull of the Moon into a play that enjoyed sold-out performances in Chicago and Indianapolis. Berg’s work has been published in thirty countries, and three of her novels have been turned into television movies. She is the founder of Writing Matters, a quality reading series dedicated to serving author, audience, and community. She teaches one-day writing workshops and is a popular speaker at venues around the country. Some of her most popular Facebook postings have been collected in Make Someone Happy and Still Happy. She lives outside Chicago.