Can a 91-year-old woman and her middle-aged son live together in harmony? Yes, says writer William Thomas. As long as Canadian peacekeeping troops are willing to make house calls. Here are the true-life adventures of Margaret and her loving but sardonic son, stories laced with laughter and filled with enduring affection. "This started out to be just a funny book about my 80 something Irish mother who liked to drink a wee bit. In fact the original title was All Humour Needs A Victim And Your Mother Should Come First!" Then real life broke into the book with the nursing home, mild dementia, then Alzheimers. It's now a very funny, very touching, very relevant self-help guide for people dealing with aging loved ones.

Said the Toronto Star in their full page rave review: "The book is a collection of anecdotes, lists and humourous columns on aging ... and families, but more than that, it's funny, irreverent, ultimately compassionate - and it's got some edge."

A good example of the author's wit and his mother's (unintentional) sense of humour is the dedication page itself:

"I dedicate this book to my mother, Margaret Mary McLean Thomas, the source of whatever goodness and humour I possess.

Margaret is and always has been the kindest, sweetest, gentlest soul on the face of the earth. A saint, really. So much so that I've often offered to send a letter off to the Vatican to get her name on that list of beatification.

And every time I mentioned this, she says the same thing: "That's nice, dear, but they charge so dang much. I'll just get your sister to give me a perm."

Okay. So this woman is not quite grasping the concept of beatification. This doesn't make her a bad person, does it? ©