No Dancing in the Lift: A Memoir

 No Dancing in the Lift: A Memoir

Reviewed By  Nan van Dissel       September 8, 2025

 

Author  Mandy Sayer

Distributor:      Transit Lounge
ISBN:                 9781923023475
Publisher:         Transit Lounge
Release Date:   1 September 2025  

Website:    https://transitlounge.com.au/shop/no-dancing-in-the-lift/ 

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Award winning novelist and narrative non-fiction author Mandy Sayer’s third family memoir ‘No Dancing in the Lift’ won’t disappoint readers, who enjoyed her two previous memoirs. She again uses her characteristic straightforward way to reminisce about her life with her irresponsible jazz drummer father, while being his primary carer in the last months of his life. He died in 2000.

When Mandy learns that her father, Gerry has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, despite having an extremely busy life, studying and freelance writing, she decides to become his carer. Using a variety of sources, which included personal journals, archived medical records and newspaper clippings, she has created a reflective but loving memoir of not only his last months but also their life together as buskers and performers on the sidewalks of New Orleans and New York in the 1980s. Her no nonsense approach does not camouflage her deep love for her often difficult parent, but it also demonstrates their unique relationship.

Even the most intimate and moving of memories have been written with honesty; sometimes they are funny but never sentimental, and always well written. I highly recommend this touching memoir to readers, who have been carers and who have also reflected on the lives of those for whom they have cared.

Biographies, Non Fiction