Life expectancy is going up. Our parents are increasingly likely to be living into their eighties and nineties. Many find themselves in the position of caring for their parents when they are already retired themselves, or not in good health, or still have children to support financially. What can we do for the best in these situations? Do you feel your parents are a burden? Do they feel that? How do we cope with the huge costs of geriatric care? How do we manage this conflicting tangle of interests? This is a practical book that looks at the range of alternatives and provides realistic solutions. It also recognizes the negative and ambivalent feelings that plague families on all sides. Extreme old age is not easy. We need to help our parents through the difficulties they inevitably face during their final years, and balance those needs with equally pressing ones elsewhere. Dan and Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok, drawing on their own experiences, here provide a succinct overview of the problems and answers for all with elderly parents.

Highly enjoyable, accurate and informative. It is a book anybody interested in the care of the aged ought to have, as a good read, as a reference book or a guide to caring for elderly relatives. Peter Meisner, Consultant Physician in Geriatric Medicine IF YOU ARE IN YOUR 40s, 50s, or 60s, read this book. IF YOUR PARENTS OR LOVED ONES ARE IN THEIR 60s, 70s, 80s+, read this book. Dan and Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok provide a comprehensive guide to the wondrous and often emotionally chilling world of caring for the elderly. From retirement planning to the verities and varieties of housing for the elderly, from dementia to the difficult world of the elderly and family dynamics, they cover a wide area of subjects. Enhanced with guides, checklists, and possible scenarios, this book answers questions you may not even have considered as yet. As someone who works in the field of geriatrics, at a Continuum of Care Retirement Community, I applaud the thorough, realistic, and wide-ranging approach of this work. Warning: Avoid reading this book if you prefer to be blindsided when it is time for you or your loved ones to seek help because of increasing frailty. Likewise, ignore this work if you prefer to live in a state of denial. For the rest, John Donne was right: this bell tolls for you. Dr. David J. Zucker, Chaplain at Shalom Park Nursing Home, Denver

Dan Cohn-Sherbok is Professor of Judaism at University of Wales, Lampeter. Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok was formerly headmistress of West Heath School.