Steph Jagger, author of Everything Left to Remember (a Flatiron Books/Macmillan paperback joins host Janeane on KUCI 88.9fm. Steph is a world-record-breaking skier whose most recent memoir chronicles her road trip with her mother, who is battling Alzheimer’s, through America’s national parks. An adventure full of horseback riding, hiking, and “tenting” out West, this poignant journey explores our understanding of our own identities and relationships when those we love the most no longer remember who they are.
"With keen insight and thoughtful prose that captures both the emotions involved and the significance of the natural world in the author’s life, she recalls their journey across the Rockies, where they shared moments of loss, endured times of frustration, and found genuine joy in nature.... A beautiful yet heart-wrenching tribute to the mother-daughter relationship." —Kirkus, starred review
About Everything Left to Remember:
This inspirational mother-daughter memoir follows two women on a poignant journey through a landscape of legacy and loss. As they road-trip through the national parks of the American West, they explore the ever-changing terrain of dementia, deep remembrance, and motherhood.
Steph Jagger lost her mother before she lost her. Stricken with an incurable disease that slowly erases all sense of self, Steph’s mother struggles to remember her favorite drink, her favorite song, and—perhaps most heartbreaking of all—Steph herself. As the woman who loved and raised her begins to slip away, Steph makes a promise: to write her mother’s story before it’s entirely lost.
Aware of her mother’s waning memory, Steph proposes a camping trip—which her mother, on the urging of Steph’s father, agrees to embark upon. An adventure full of horseback riding, hiking, and “tenting” out West quickly turns into one woman’s reflection on the mysteries tucked inside ourselves and our ancestry—and what it means to love someone who doesn’t quite remember the person she spent her lifetime becoming.
A staggeringly beautiful examination of how stories are passed down through generations and from Mother Nature, Everything Left to Remember brings us the wisdom of remembrance under the constellations of the vast Montana sky.
About the author:
Steph Jagger is a sought-after mentor and coach whose offerings guide people toward a deeper understanding of themselves and their stories. Her work, including speaking and facilitating, lies at the intersection of loss, the nature of deep remembrance, and the personal journey of re-creation. Steph grew up in Vancouver, Canada and now lives and works on Bainbridge Island, WA. Everything Left to Remember is Steph’s second book. Her first, Unbound, was published in 2017.
