‘Falling & Laughing; The Restoration of Edwyn Collins. by Grace Maxwell.

Love manifests itself in many guises; two lovers lying in a soft focus meadow of golden corn, a box of chocolates and a bouquet of flowers wrapped in ribbon. But sometimes it’s not sugary or fragrant. The meadow may be full of thistles and weeds that require careful footsteps. Grace takes you one step at a time throughout this absorbing book, from the initial horror and fear of Edwyn’s stroke, the dark times of uncertainty, towards the gradual re-building of their lives. It’s not a hearts and flowers, Mills and Boon formula, it is a real, grown up, and sometimes tough love. An intense, deep loyalty to her soul mate.

This is the story of most people’s worst nightmare, the debilitation of a loved one. I am fortunate not to have experienced what Grace, Edwyn, Will their son, and the rest of the family went through, but it made me think as her story unfolded, how I would react. How would I cope with everything going on around me? Hopefully I would show her courage, humour and devotion, and deal with the stress in the same way, although I’d probably add a whisky chaser thrown in for good measure.  To add insult to injury she was having to deal with problems at home, which meant that the place where she could try to get some tranquillity from the pressures of the hospital, were occasionally denied to her.  The care that Edwyn was receiving was not always what was expected and Grace had to fight and confront the ‘professionals’ to get even basic routines administered correctly. One of the finest lyricists in pop no longer able to communicate the most simple of sentences (for the time being), as a result of Edwyn suffering from aphasia (a by product of his stroke); the inability to understand or produce speech.

Eventually as Edwyn’s health improved the next hurdle was teaching him how to speak, read, and walk, although remarkably his singing voice remained undamaged, and with the aid of the specialists’ and Graces’ unreserved dedication, real progress was forthcoming. This book is heart warming, tragic, and shows her wicked humour throughout.

The restoration is still ongoing and Edwyn is still making progress. Not from the hand of God, but more the patience of a saint.