In This Faulty Machine: A Memoir of Loss and Transformation

An exquisite memoir of the author’s life since being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease--informative, funny, and moving all at once.

Acclaimed novelist Kathy Page had just completed a promotional tour for her award-winning book Dear Evelyn when a fall during a hike injured her hand. That relatively minor accident seemed to set in motion a cascade of other seemingly unrelated physical issues. Many months of appointments, and of waiting for appointments (including during the COVID lockdown) ensued, until the day that pulled everything together in a single, frightening diagnosis: Parkinson’s disease.

In This Faulty Machine is an eye-opening, often lyrical and very funny report from that ＂other kingdom＂ of illness, from an observant, wise, and honest involuntary resident. The author’s acute yet welcoming voice draws us into the erratic, intimate, and troubling effects of the disease and its impact on her relationships alongside the pleasures of family, friends, reading, writing, and the natural world.

This one-of-a-kind memoir offers a thoughtful exploration of the complex and evolving science of this debilitating disease, a gripping account of the various ways that it impacts both PWP (People with Parkinson’s) and their families. The book is also a unique look into the creative process of a life-long novelist who finds that she can no longer create in the way she has for decades.

Wise and warm, the book makes an important contribution to the understanding of Parkinson’s disease but is also a rich and heartfelt memoir of creativity and a life being well-lived, even as the challenges mount. It is a story of vital interest to us all as we face our own fragility, and indeed, mortality.

KATHY PAGE is the author of eleven acclaimed works of fiction. Her books have been twice nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, once for the Orange Prize, and shortlisted for the Governer General’s Award and the ReLit Award. Her most recent novel, Dear Evelyn, won the Roger’s Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the City of Victoria Butler Prize, and was a Best Book of the year for The Globe and Mail, Kirkus, Quill & Quire, Toronto Star, and Winnipeg Free Press. Born in the UK, Kathy has lived on Salt Spring Island, BC, since 2001.