Matchstick Man

An unforgettable account of living with Alzheimer's Disease by the partner of a brilliant artist whose mind is collapsing. An unbearably honest, unsentimental and exceptionally well written story of a mind's disintegration and its effects on the partner and family of the man they are losing to confusion, distress and amnesia. Julia Kelly is an Irish novelist; her partner was a successful artist whose increasingly disturbing behaviour is described quietly, in a series of dreadful epiphanies. A heartbreaking account of a destructive and distressing disease that affects 850,000 people in the UK alone, with numbers set to rise to over 1 million by 2025.

“"One of the most heartbreaking books you will ever read. Yet somehow, at the same time, it is uplifting and life-affirming, and at times even funny. . . . [Kelly] writes beautifully and with great humanity." -- Irish Independent”

'[A] candid, affecting and beautifully written account of living with Alzheimer's' The Bookseller.
'Julia Kelly finds beauty in words ... A sad book about the loss of a mind and the conflicting layers of a relationship. We can only sigh in relief that such a talented writer was created in the process' Ruth Fitzmaurice, Irish Times.
'Heartbreaking ... Yet somehow, at the same time, it is uplifting and life-affirming, and at times even funny ... [Kelly] writes beautifully and with great humanity' Irish Independent.
'Kelly's talent is such that she is able to wring so much beauty, pathos and even humour from all this trauma ... Matchstick Man challenges us to consider what a life is and, perhaps, to appreciate it all the more' Dublin Sunday Independent.
'Traces the bitter reality of Alzheimer's disease as few other pieces of writing have ever done' Nenagh Guardian.
'This moving book traces the reality of Alzheimer's disease as few other pieces of writing have done' The Clare Champion.
'Julia Kelly writes with confidence and with meticulous attention to the grind of daily life ... She is impressively honest about her failings and his' Sunday Times.
'I admired Matchstick Man, Julia Kelly's unsparing account of coping with her husband's alzheimer's' Madeleine Keane in the Literary Diary, Sunday Independent.
'Ragged and terrifying, but it also achieves a rare grace, as Kelly writes her way from resentment to compassion. It is a tribute to her craft that as the book ends we can only wonder at Charlie's fortitude, and hers' Times Literary Supplement.
'An intensely honest and at times, almost painful to read memoir ... The book doesn't shy away from the devastating effect the disease has on the couple's relationship and on their young daughter. Kelly doesn't hide any of the pain or destruction that the breakdown of her once beloved Charlie has on her life. A beautifully written, achingly honest memoir that stayed with me long after I finished it' Sinéad Moriarty, Irish Independent, Books of the Year.
'An unforgettable telling of a story that will be familiar to many thousands of people in the UK and Ireland' Spalding Guardian.
'A tragic story, but [Kelly's] honest telling gives it an uplifting quality that leaves you cheerful rather than depressed at its end' Irish Examiner.
'A searingly honest and moving tribute' County Down Spectator.

Julia Kelly was born in 1969 and studied English, Sociology and Journalism in Dublin. Her novels include With my Lazy Eye and The Playground. She lives in Dalkey, County Dublin.

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