Before I Forget
Author: Tory Henwood Hoen
Genre: Fiction
Rating: ★★★★★
Tory Henwood Hoen’s Before I Forget is a gorgeous, tender novel about coming home—not just to a place, but to the truth of who you are. Cricket returns to her hometown carrying the weight of her past and the complicated relationships she left behind. As she reconnects with family and old memories, she is forced to confront the person she has become and the life she may still have the courage to rebuild. The story unfolds quietly but powerfully, revealing how grief, love, and time reshape the bonds that define us.
What stayed with me most were the beautiful scenes between Cricket and her father. Hoen writes about dementia with remarkable compassion, portraying both the vulnerability of the patient and the emotional labor of the caregiver with deep respect and tenderness. Their relationship gives the novel its heart. In the end, this story reminds us that there is more than one kind of homecoming—the return to family, the return to memory, and the return to oneself.
