A Long Goodbye

This book had me in tears so many times. This is a heartbreaking compelling read. Simon has early onset Alzheimers and this is the story of his life after he enters a care home at the age of 40. There is love, laughter and sadness. This is a beautifully written book that I would definitely recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I loved this book ,very easy to identify,I can Imagine early onset dementia is very frightening for the person.as I have worked in care homes with elderly people with dementia,it was sort of good to see what maybe going on in there mind.sad/ happy book ,definitely a holiday read,I couldn’t put it down

A Long Goodbye is an unusual love story, both poignant and funny.

Emma Lowry is the manager of Orchard, a care home in England. When Simon Carter, a 40-year old man with early onset Alzheimer’s, checks in, its apparently love at first sight, and a splendid romance, despite Simon’s inevitable decline, blossoms between them.

However, there’s one huge problem. Emma is married, to Michael, an executive in the company who runs the care home.

A comedy of errors ensues, albeit a comedy in the midst of impending tragedy. And when Emma gets pregnant, what is already complicated becomes so tangled one wonders how, or, if, things will work out.

Revealing more than this broad synopsis ventures into spoiler territory. This is a lovely book, with believable and likable characters. It is touching, heartwarming, and makes you believe that love is possible under the strangest of circumstances and that humankind is essentially good. Highly recommended.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley.

"Some people do very kind things. Special things that make a whole world of difference to a person or a persons' lives."
What a story! Simon has been diagnosed with early alzheimer's disease at the age of 40. Thinking calmly, he plans his future and moves into a nursing facility. He feels safe and knows the caretakers will become family and help him.
Was he planning on falling in love with the manager of this wonderful, special place? For how long will he know her name? How long will he even remember who he is?
It's a heartbreaking and yet hopeful book.
It resinates with its message "Live in the present and love each moment."

This was a great story! The characters are emotionally compelling and pull you into the story pretty quickly. It deals with Alzheimer's which is such an emotional subject, however the story was great!

Let me just get a tissue!!! I am not into romantic novels but this has melted my granite heart!!

Emma and Michael are having marriage problems mostly caused by him working away during the week and her long hours managing Orchard Care Home.

Simon enters the care home at 40, he is the youngest resident and is physically fit, but has the early onset of Alzheimer’s. Their friendship and flourishing romance was very touching and beautifully written. I did tear up when Simon’s condition deteriorates but it was so realistically written and wasn’t dramatised!!

I loved this book. A romantic story with a twist that was heartbreaking and at the same time so emotionally touching. The friendship between Michael and Simon was so unexpected but so gentle that you can’t help but be moved by it.

I have never read a book with a character that has Alzheimer’s, but this was tastefully written and obviously researched.

Looking forward to Anthony’s next book.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

A Long Goodbye is heart breaking. Simon is an unselfish man with great insight into people and what they need. Anthony Le Moignan gives us a personal look into early onset Alzheimer's and the tradegy of the disease.

It's taken me a while to gather my thoughts on this book and even now after a few weeks this beautiful story is still at the very forefront of my mind.


On the outside Simon has it all. He's a successful accountant, funny, handsome, financially comfortable and he's still only in his forties. But on the inside he's falling apart as he's been diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's. Determined not to become a burden to others he has been busy preparing for his uncertain future and checks himself into Orchard Care Home where he hopes no-one will find him and he can quietly live out whatever remaining time he has left.


Emma is the manager at Orchard Care Home. She takes pride in what she does and she is supportive of both the residents as well as her team of staff. She's worked hard to get to her current position of manager and she met her husband, Michael, through her work earlier in her career. The couple are forced to spend a lot of time apart as Michael has now moved further up the career ladder and this has put a lot of strain on their marriage.


When Simon and Emma meet it's obvious that they are attracted to each other but of course this is a situation that is never going to end well for a whole host of reasons.



I was totally immersed in the story and it's characters. I loved Emma as she clearly loved her job caring for those who were unable to care for themselves and watching her relationship with Simon flourish knowing that there would only ever be one possible outcome really tugged at my heartstrings.


Simon was a character that will stay with me for a number of reasons, one of which being that a close family member had dementia, so I fully appreciate how difficult it can be to deal with. Seeing his decline from the humorous, happy go lucky guy at the start of the novel through to when his condition really starts to take a hold made for some really emotional reading but the fact that it was so beautifully written somehow made it easier.


A Long Goodbye is one of the best, if not THE best book that I've read this year. It's a highly emotional, poignant and thought provoking story which is based on real life experience of this heartbreaking condition as Anthony Le Moignan's father was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's and this first hand experience is very obvious in his writing. I'm not ashamed to tell you that this book completely broke me to the point where I was ugly crying into my pillow. I honestly can't recommend this highly enough and proceeds from the book will help to support the Jersey Alzheimer's Association so you'll be helping a great cause as well as getting a wonderfully touching, funny, heartwarming and hopeful story at the same time.


This is an impressive debut novel from Anthony Le Moignan and I'm looking forward to reading more from him.

It obvious from the beginning of this book that it was written from the soul, and with some personal experience. I read this beautiful, captivating and emotional book in just 2 sittings.

Simon is a successful and wealthy accountant but is diagnosed at the tender age of 40 with early onset Alzheimer’s. Emma is a manager of a care Home, her marriage is on the rocks due to ongoing fertility issues. When Simon moves into the care Home Emma runs, he is her youngest resident, and a incredible bond is formed between them.

A simply beautiful and well written story. The easiest 5 stars I have given, I’d have given more if I were able.

Simon is living a successful life but when he is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s while in his thirties he determines to have some control over his future. He retires as a partner in his accountancy practice, sells his house and moves into an apartment close to Oxford. Some eighteen months after the diagnosis, he decides to move into a care facility for the final years (?) of his life.

He chooses Orchard Care Home, a care facility that has a pool and a gym and plenty of room for him to continue his daily running exercises. Of course, he is many years younger than the other residents but he soon settles into this new way of living.

Emma is the facility manager and has been in the care industry for twenty plus years. She is married to Michael whom she met when a trainee at Orchard. Michael from being the manager has moved up the corporate ladder and is now based in the company’s London office, This entails the couple spending much time apart.

The attraction between Simon and Emma is immediate, but while attracted Emma is well aware of her marriage vow and her responsibilities as manager of the care home.

If you read this book, and I encourage you to do so, be prepared to range through all your emotions. It is at times, heartbreaking, and at others funny, loving and sensational. I recommend this book with five stars.

This is Anthony Le Moignan’s first book. I trust it will not be the last.

What a beautiful, sad and utterly absorbing story! I found myself engrossed from the first sentence and when I finished the book I felt bereft; as if I'd lost someone I'd felt very close to. I am not surprised this story is based on the author's experiences with his father, another Alzheimer's patient. Simon is a wealthy young man who learns he has early onset Alzheimer's and when he reaches the point where he feels he needs to cut off all ties to the outside world and reside in a safe, caring place where he can let nature take it inexorable course. Upon moving into Orchard Care Home Simon meets Emma, the manager. Their connection is instant and deep. Emma and Simon both know their time together is limited, particularly by the fact that Emma is married, but their love is a driving force which ultimately changes several lives. A stunning, well written story which will affect anyone lucky enough to find themselves with a copy of it. Very strongly recommend.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a review copy. This is my honest opinion.

No blurb can really do this book justice!

A Long Goodbye is a deeply emotional exploration of love, loss and caring that left me completely drained, but in a good way.

Le Moignan avoids the trap of introducing too many characters and keeps the focus tightly on a core few (Emma, Simon, Michael), with a handful of peripheral side characters (most notably Julie and Maddie). The reader gets to know these few characters intimately and they feel utterly real: not ‘baddies’ or ‘goodies’ but authentic complex people with their own motivations and justifications.

Perhaps excepting Simon, who is an angel through and through!

It was obvious from the overall theme of the book that this was going to be a tragic love story. Le Moignan’s portrayal of Early Onset Alzheimers is heartbreakingly honest; raw but sensitive. Simon’s decline is almost unbearable to watch, but it is his approach to his illness, and life in general, that won my heart and had me sticking by him to the last page.

Not to say that the whole story was doom and gloom! This is a romance, after all, so we see a fair helping of coincidental meetings, communication mix-ups and comical misunderstandings. Plus the upbeat attitudes of the main characters really help to keep the pace lively and leaven the greyer moments.

Whilst Simon’s story arc was somewhat predictable given his circumstances, those of Emma and Michael took some totally unexpected turns, and I really enjoyed how the characters had the capacity to surprise me right to the finish. Especially at the finish!

A Long Goodbye is a deeply moving story of love, not just between a man and a woman, but between friends, lovers, parent and child. Love that transcends illness, memory and painful experiences. I highly recommend this book, but please make sure you stock up on tissues and have some hugs on standby (pet, partner or just a favourite teddy).


The consensus was that his illness would grant him between three and twenty years from the first symptoms. He’d already had a good five of those since first noticing people staring in an unfamiliar way, wondering why he’d repeated himself or didn’t know their names. His last relationship had ended after forgotten dates and ‘being weird‘.
He’d assume there were five years left, the latter half veering towards an unacceptable standard of life. For the moment, he was still healthy in his body, if not in his mind. He intended to keep that level of fitness up for as long as possible.

– Anthony Le Moignan, A Long Goodbye

Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog

Simon, a successful accountant, has a big problem. The biggest of them all. He checks himself into Orchard Care Home whilst still relatively healthy, the youngest resident by decades. He’s confident he cut all ties with the outside world and is untraceable.

Emma, married with no kids, lives, breathes and manages Orchard Care Home; a position her husband, Michael, used to hold in the good old days. But now he’s soared up the company hierarchy she sees so much less of him.

The attraction between carer and resident is instant, but ultimately destined for catastrophe. Alzheimer’s takes no prisoners and Early Onset, it’s most tragic form, is the cruellest of all.

How can Michael feel threatened by Simon? And what future could Emma have with him?

Simon understands less and less, but knows he has to try and run away from time - to somehow beat the ceaseless clock.

Just from reading the blurb about this book I knew it would be a real tear-jerker. This is a very well written, loving book that I really didn’t want to end. So many people are affected by Alzheimer’s Disease, and will relate to this book to some degree. 5*