“Nancy Nau Sullivan’s The Last Cadillac is a daughter’s heartfelt and loving tribute to her father and her family. She takes her reader from the Midwest to Florida to Ireland and back, never losing her sense of humor-and her sense of duty to her family-along the way. With Sullivan, we survive hurricanes, philandering ex-husbands, teenagers, sibling rivalry, stomachbugs, strokes, cancer, and tragedy. But in the end like Sullivan, we are stronger for it, and we’re left with a feeling of hope for the future.
For any reader who has had to take care of their parents – or anyone they care about – this book is highly recommended. And for anyone who just wants a good story, told with the finesse and clarity of the best memoir writing, this book is also for you.
~ David Armand
Associate Editor, Louisiana Literature Press
“A touching debut memoir about a middle-aged woman with caring for both her aging father and her two growing children. Sullivan’s story begins at a time when she was in a particularly tough spot: her mother had died, her father had suffered a stroke, and her husband had filed for divorce. Rather than wallow in grief or self-pity, the author decided to do something that just felt good, so she moved from Indiana to sunny Anna Maria Island, Florida, where her parents owned a beach cottage for decades. The ideas seemed like an idyllic escape and a flawless plan – except for the fact that her father, who needed constant care, wanted to go with her, and her Indiana-based siblings wouldn’t hear of it. But Sullivan decided to go anyway, packing up her kids and her dad and heading to the Gulf of Mexico.
“The last Cadillac is a deeply personal memoir chronicling the author’s search for autonomy and dignity for herself and her aging father. After a divorce and witnessing the long painful death of her mother, Sullivan and her dad search for hope and healing at a family cottage on Anna Maria Island, Florida. You’ll laugh out loud and you’ll cry- an absolute must read for every caregiver.”
There is nothing more interesting than what we choose to do with the life we are given, especially when we are given the devastating loss of loved ones. The Last Cadillac is a beautifully told story of what one woman chose to do with her life after a painful divorce and the soulful loss of her mother to cancer. Nancy Nau Sullivan’s memoir speaks to the soul of how new life can rise from the most sorrowful deaths, and all the surprising beginnings that can be found in the most painful of endings. This is a story we all know of life falling apart and being pulled together in new, different, and even better ways. The Last Cadillac is a brilliant testament to the divine power of the human spirit to rise and shine from the darkest of times. I love this book.”