The Story of Forgetting (2008)

Seth's mother, always forgetful, is now inexorably tangled in early-onset Alzheimer's. Determined to help her, the pimply 15-year-old science nerd begins to amass medical research on the disease. As he works, he draws closer to Abel Haggard, a craggy old hermit who ekes out a living on the remnants of his family's farm. Seth and Abel, it turns out, share another connection: knowledge about a certain mystical world. It may sound hokey, but Stefan Merrill Block weaves together his disparate narrative strands with a deft hand, tingeing his tale, The Story of Forgetting, with a lovely touch of the fantastic. A-