After her harrowing testimony at the aged care commission, the Australian poet’s luminous new collection bears witness to a life and troubled death
Shortly after Sarah Holland-Batt’s father Tony was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease – and told he was no longer fit to drive – he bought himself his dream car. A Jaguar. He made the purchase via eBay, sight unseen; the first his wife knew about it was when it was delivered to their front door.
It was an impulsive act of rebellion, but also symptomatic of the loss of judgment and compulsive spending that can accompany the early stages of the illness.
… it sat like a carcass
in the garage, like a headstone, like a coffin
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