by Denise Dorrance

A “poignant” (New York Times Book Review), heartbreaking, and darkly funny graphic memoir—crafted with “a whole lot of heart” (Oprah Daily)—that perfectly captures the grief, nostalgia, and chaos of having to care for an elderly, dementia-impaired parent in crisis

What do you do when your mother can’t remember who you are? You catch the first flight from your adopted home of London to your original hometown of Cedar Rapids, lowa, where she’s hospitalized, injured, and struggling with the swirling disorientation of dementia. You take responsibility for finding her new (and, perhaps, final) home—although insurance is running out and you might have to finally patch up your bitter relationship with your sister. And you try not to think about death, lurking around every corner . . . or the coming polar vortex, growing closer and closer as snowflakes swirl ever faster outside.

With cinematic illustrations and moving yet humorous prose, award-winning author and cartoonist Denise Dorrance shares the two most haywire months of her life: the phone call after her mother is discovered lying confused on the living room floor, the mingled shock and familiarity of a harsh Midwestern midwinter, the attempt to settle her homesick mother into a care facility, the limiting and limitless inanities of the US health care system, and the impossible decisions about what comes next. Incorporating vintage postcards, photographs, and letters, Dorrance brilliantly captures the sadness, frustration, and gallows humor of suddenly having to care for an aging parent and facing the moment of transition between life as you’ve long known it and life as it must become.

★ Winner of the LDComics Rosalind B. Penfold Prize
Short-listed for the Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition
A New York Public Library 2024 Best New Comics for Adults

“Splashes of color interrupt the blue haze of Dorrance’s poignant memoir, which hovers over her mother as she develops dementia and follows Dorrance’s journey home to the Midwest to care for her one winter.”—The New York Times Book Review

“With gallows humor, visual ingenuity, and a whole lot of heart, Dorrance chronicles the two chilling months she returned home to care for her ailing mother—while a literal polar vortex looms in the background.”—Oprah Daily

“Facing difficult realities with humor and hope, this story is sure to stick with readers long after it is over.”—New York Public Library, 2024 Best New Comics for Adults

“A poignant, heartbreaking, and darkly funny graphic memoir that perfectly captures the grief, nostalgia, and chaos of caring for an elderly, dementia-impaired parent in crisis.”—Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books

“Polar Vortex is enchanting, every page lovely to look at, so funny and plangent and full of sly wisdom . . . it’s also strikingly relevant. . . . Dorrance’s drawings are as expressive and as deft as those of Alison Bechdel. . . It is all, in short, magical: a triumph of art and feeling. I loved it.”—The Guardian, Graphic Novel of the Month

“A pitch-perfect piece of work—frank and self-critical narration, incorporating photos and postcards, dread-drenched pacing, and beautifully limpid blue-gray/russet art. . . . Dorrance’s gorgeous, plaintive story speaks to those caring for aging parents and realizing they must eventually prepare for their own exits. A lyrical read-alike for Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast.”—Library Journal, starred review

“Gentle lines, soft color palette, and quippy narration bring a sense of comfort and familiarity to the bittersweet story of family, memory, and the inevitability of loss. Dorrance demystifies the challenges of elder care with this sensitive snapshot of the many ways in which memory shapes family history.”—Publishers Weekly

“Raw, funny, heartbreaking and brilliantly simple: Like all great art, Polar Vortexdevastates in the deepest way. I can't wait to give this beautiful book to everyone I know.”—Sarah Blake, New York Times–bestselling author of The Postmistress and The Guest Book

“Dorrance’s upbeat, airy linework packs an unsuspecting emotional wallop . . . A delicately drawn, unconventional chronicle of loss.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Unsparingly honest and with an eye that refuses to waver, Denise Dorrance’s graphic novel Polar Vortex is utterly original and unique, managing to both transcend and subvert its genre. Dorrance has rendered a story of geriatric elder care into something edgy, beautiful, visceral, irreverent and yet ultimately universal. I cannot recommend it highly enough.”—Miranda Cowley Heller, #1 New York Times‒bestselling author of The Paper Palace

“Dorrance creatively conveys the challenges of caring for an aging parent, interspersing humor with wrenching moments and effectively incorporating photos, letters, and postcards into the illustrations of this poignant memoir.”—Library Journal, A Best Graphic Novel of 2024

“An honest, affecting graphic memoir about a messy series of compromises and reconciliations accompanying end-of-life caregiving.”—Foreword

“Moments of light and joy . . . run throughout the book . . . Ultimately, the book is hopeful, while not sugar-coating the realities of caring for a parent with dementia.”—The Comics Journal

“There’s a poignancy tinged with sharpness to Dorrance’s drawings that reminds me of Posy Simmonds, as she captures with a mere flick of her pen the complex emotions between an adult daughter and her increasingly frail, childlike mother—the guilt, the uncertainties and the early stages of grieving.”—Collagerie

“At times both heartbreaking and hilarious, Denise Dorrance delicately balances both sides of an unplanned reversal of responsibility, respectfully navigating both sides of the emotional rollercoaster of a woman coming to terms not just with the mortality of her mother, but her own.”—Popzara