Wendy Mitchell spent twenty years as a non-clinical team leader in the NHS before being diagnosed with Young Onset Dementia in July 2014 at the age of fifty-eight. Shocked by the lack of awareness about the disease, both in the community and in hospitals, she vowed to spend her time raising awareness about dementia and encouraging others to see that there is life after a diagnosis. She is now an ambassador for the Alzheimer's Society and in 2019 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Health by the University of Bradford for her contribution to research. She has two daughters and lives in Yorkshire.

@WendyPMitchell

THE RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK

SELECTED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE TIMES

SELECTED AS A SUMMER READ BY THE SUNDAY TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, THE TIMES AND THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

'Revelatory' Guardian

'A miracle' Telegraph

'Remarkable' Daily Mail

'A landmark book' Financial Times

How do you build a life when all that you know is changing?

How do you conceive of love when you can no longer recognise those who mean the most to you?

A phenomenal memoir - the first of its kind - Somebody I Used to Know is both a heart-rending tribute to the woman Wendy Mitchell once was, and a brave affirmation of the woman dementia has seen her become.

The world could do with more Wendy Mitchells ... This is a book from which we can all learn

With humour, truth and grace, this book [gives] a unique insight into what it's like to live with Alzheimer's

Remarkable ... Mitchell gives such clear-eyed insight that anyone who knows a person living with dementia should read this book

A landmark book

Revelatory

Usually the experience of someone living with dementia is lost; known only partially even to their loved ones. The miracle of this work is that it managed to capture the experience, and hold it up for the rest of us to see

A lucid, candid and gallant portrayal of what the early stages of dementia feel like ... This memoir, with its humour and its sense of resilience, demonstrates how the diagnosis of dementia is not a clear line that a person crosses; they are no different than they were the day before

I am so impressed with Wendy Mitchell's attitude and ability to explain her experience - she is both an inspiration and a guide. I think this book will be extremely helpful to people who are trying to come to terms with dementia, in their own lives, or the lives of their family and friends

How does it feel to start to lose your memories, your identity? Mitchell, who discovered at the age of 58 that she had early-onset dementia, tells us in this remarkable book

Fluent, lucid and illuminating ... The difficulties are clearly daunting and distressing, the future unpredictable and frightening. Yet Mitchell's sparkling book is hugely positive and uplifting. It should be required reading for all health professionals and anyone touched by dementia

An absolutely compelling account of life with dementia ... A testimony to human spirit and ingenuity

A remarkable memoir - remorselessly honest yet with more mirth than misery. Though she is fully aware that her story will not end well, the author describes vividly how she works around her growing mental disability with the help of family and friends

An extraordinary book about a little-understood disease. Awe-inspiring, courageous and insightful. I would recommend it to everyone

Nothing is more frightening than dementia, says Wendy - and yet, every day, she chooses to face her fears head on. By sharing her story Wendy challenges assumptions and ignorance about dementia. Read this amazing book. It will change a lot of people's minds about what it means to have the disease

A brave and illuminating journey inside the mind, heart, and life of young-onset Alzheimer's disease

This is an eloquent and poignant book. Those of us who have gone on the heartbreaking journey of losing a loved one to dementia have wondered what they were feeling. Wendy Mitchell's courageous and unflinching account lets us know

In Somebody I Used to Know [Mitchell] describes life after her diagnosis - one that, despite looming loss, remains full of purpose

The only memoir of Alzheimer's disease written by someone suffering from the illness. Wendy Mitchell describes what it's like to begin to forget who you are. Heartbreaking stuff

Extraordinary . [Mitchell] decided to chronicle her experiences of living with dementia to show others what it really feels like and the result is a rare and moving memoir about losing memories, no longer recognising people you love, and saying goodbye to her career and independence. It also energetically and vividly affirms the reality of the new woman that Mitchell has had to become

Remarkable . Frank, angry, practical and, just occasionally, funny

Fascinating and groundbreaking . Her urgent present tense articulation of her day-to-day struggles, set against fragmented memories of the woman she used to be, is so close to the bone that it's chilling. At the same time, however, it's also an amazing testament to Mitchell's tenacity, an account of how she's developed coping mechanisms to continue living as independent a life for as long as possible

Astonishingly acute . For all the honest rage, Mitchell has written a remarkably hopeful book. Her mission is to remind readers that people can live with dementia as well as suffer from it . Mitchell is a mine of practical tips . Making this book is both a testament to the author's intense will to live, and also a living will

[Mitchell's] amazing memoir is a real insight into what living with dementia is really like. It's very poignant and beautifully written

One of the bestselling new books this year is Somebody I Used to Know, Wendy Mitchell's assiduous account of her early onset dementia . In the same way that people seek out cancer chronicles in the hope that they might prove instructive, so Mitchell's has resonated for similar reasons: the longer we live, the more likely dementia becomes. We read to see how others cope in the hope that, if our time comes, we might cope, too

Astonishingly acute

Wendy Mitchell's Somebody I Used to Know was not only sad, but also should be required reading by all professional carers, and especially by doctors and medical staff. Who better to help us understand dementia than the person themselves, as demonstrated by Wendy Mitchell in her brave account of her experience of living with the illness

An unusual memoir . Life is tough when your memory is going and you are having hallucinations. Brave woman