BALSAMROOT by Mary Clearman Blew (Penguin:...

BALSAMROOT by Mary Clearman Blew (Penguin: $9.95; 211 pp.). In this memoir of self-discovery, Mary Blew recalls that her Aunt Imogene had always been a figure of strength and uncompromising independence. But as her aunt began to decline into Alzheimer’s-induced dementia, Blew was forced to examine their lives more carefully. She discovered unexpected parallels between her own experiences and her aunt’s, but the knowledge that Imogene was slipping irretrievably away gave her new understanding a bitter poignancy.