{"product_id":"the-vanishing-family-love-fate-and-the-quest-to-end-dementia-robert-kolker-hardcover","title":"The Vanishing Family: Love, Fate, and the Quest to End Dementia -- Robert Kolker, Hardcover","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eHidden Valley Road \u003c\/i\u003ecomes the heart-wrenching journey of a family facing an unthinkable destiny, whose flawed genetic code might hold the long-sought key to a cure for dementia. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A gripping real-life horror story of dementia, love and grief. . . . Kolker displays his genius for the immersive detail.\"\u003ci\u003e --The New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Robert Kolker's new book is at once a tragedy, a mystery and a testament to a family's love.\" \u003ci\u003e--NPR\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"With his breathtaking chronicle of a family with a rare form of dementia, Robert Kolker claims his title as the Ann Patchett of nonfiction family dramas.\" \u003ci\u003e--BookPage \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review) \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the idyllic American town of Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania, there lived a family with nine siblings, the youngest a girl named Barb. As the older children headed off to college and started their lives, only Barb was home to see their beautiful, still-young mother fall under a gothic spell, changing into someone she didn't recognize: withdrawn, neglectful, uncaring. Thus begins \u003ci\u003eThe Vanishing Family, \u003c\/i\u003e journalist Robert Kolker's heartbreaking follow-up to his beloved \u003ci\u003eHidden Valley Road\u003c\/i\u003e. This family, we learn, has a genetic mutation that causes dementia, but with an especially cruel twist. As early as their forties, formerly loving parents and hard-driving executives will lose their jobs, have affairs, take up drinking--shed all inhibitions and sense of responsibility--and become people their families hardly know. Their former personalities seem to vanish--and there is a fifty-fifty chance that it will happen to their children, too. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Vanishing Family\u003c\/i\u003e unfolds with dramatic intensity as the siblings begin to realize that what happened to their mother is happening to them: first one, then two, three, four, and more begin to change. Sue, in search of a calling, finds her place in caring for the others. Barb sets out to find a cure. Alongside their story, Kolker weaves in the dramatic scientific fight against dementia; after decades of blind alleys, this family's rare form of FTD (frontotemporal dementia) might lead to a breakthrough in the prevention and treatment of \u003ci\u003eall \u003c\/i\u003edementia--including the scourge of Alzheimer's disease. Moving, intimate, unexpectedly hopeful, \u003ci\u003eThe Vanishing Family\u003c\/i\u003e is an enthralling narrative about one family's fate, and a medical detective story that speaks to all of us who fear losing ourselves at the end.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Robert Kolker\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Doubleday Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/29\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 368\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.30lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.40h x 6.30w x 1.50d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780385551038\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/13\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eROBERT KOLKER is a contributing writer at The \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eMagazine and author of the #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller \u003ci\u003eHidden Valley Road\u003c\/i\u003e, named an Oprah's Book Club Pick, a \u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e Top 10 book of the year, a \u003ci\u003eGQ\u003c\/i\u003e Best Book of Literary Journalism of the 21st Century, and a \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e Best Nonfiction Book of the Century. His first book was \u003ci\u003eLost Girls\u003c\/i\u003e, named a \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e Notable Book and a \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e Best Book of 2013.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Robert Kolker","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67454978392292,"sku":"9780385551038","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0611\/9587\/8628\/files\/9780385551038.jpg?v=1791186512","url":"https:\/\/bookandmortar.com\/products\/the-vanishing-family-love-fate-and-the-quest-to-end-dementia-robert-kolker-hardcover","provider":"BookandMortar","version":"1.0","type":"link"}