Bearsden man publishes book in memory of beloved wife

Alan Ogg from Bearsden is raising money for MND Scotland by donating all profits from his latest book, ‘The Girl by the Grand Canal – The Four Seasons of Venice’, a non-fiction novel which tells the story of Alan’s life with his wife, Liz, and their mutual love for the city of Venice. 

Prior to retiring, Alan had worked in various levels of Scottish education and always had a passion for literature and writing. He has already written two books, the second one about Paris, written as a form of mental release while he cared for Liz, who lived with motor neuron disease (MND) for three years before sadly passing away on 16 November 2016. A few years after her passing, Alan began working on his third and most recent book, ‘The Girl by the Grand Canal – The Four Seasons of Venice’.

Starting with Winter and concluding with the melancholy of Autumn, Alan’s latest book, ‘The Girl by the Grand Canal – The Four Seasons of Venice’, uses the seasons as a way of capturing the changing stages of their long life together. The chapters offset the often-bleak reality of living with MND and caring for someone affected by the disease with vivid memories of much happier times together in Venice. 

Speaking on his inspiration to write ‘The Girl by the Grand Canal’, Alan said: “At the start of COVID, being on your own already had its challenges, but when the lockdown measures were introduced, I knew it was going to be tough and that I would have to keep myself busy. So, to do that, I set myself three goals.  

“Firstly, I needed to look after my physical and mental health, so I started to exercise every day – a bit of a shock for my ageing body!. Secondly, I wanted to learn Italian, which I’m now fairly fluent in. And finally, I decided to write a book about my wife, Liz, our life together and our love of Venice.”

Liz and Alan first wound up in Venice while hitchhiking around Europe together in the late sixties and were both instantly captivated by the city. As the couple got older and started a family of their own, they began to take their children with them and over the years, managed to visit the iconic city a total of thirty-five times.  

Summarising ‘The Girl by the Grand Canal’, he said: “The book is both a love letter to Venice and to my dear wife, but it doesn’t avoid talking about what it’s like to live with motor neuron disease and to care for someone who is living with MND.”

MND is a rapidly progressing terminal illness, which stops signals from the brain reaching the muscles. This can cause someone to lose the ability to walk, talk, eat, drink or breathe unaided and the average life expectancy is just 18 months from diagnosis.    

Alan continued: “I wanted the book to cover several angles without becoming too complicated, so initially, I knew I wanted to create something that could serve as a user-friendly, wanderer’s guide to Venice. But I also wanted it to document our backstory for our family to read in the future. And very importantly, I wanted to use humour to bind these two stories together. 

“Obviously, I still miss Liz a lot, but by writing, I hoped to capture her spirit and personality as a special life-long partner, mother, sister, friend and teacher. But it was equally important to paint a picture of her incredible courage, as she fought against MND to the very end. I somehow wanted to bring her back to life on the page.” 

Recalling feedback from friends and family who have read ‘The Girl by the Grand Canal’, he said: “Everyone who has read the book has said it can be in places an emotional read, which I guess was always going to be the case. However, the joy for me has been hearing people say that they got a real sense of Liz, with her wonderfully dark sense of humour, sarcasm and love of life shining through. 

“The fact that Liz’s positive personality and attitude keep emerging through every chapter right to the very end does clearly prevent the story from becoming all doom and gloom. I know that Liz would have wanted the book to give glimmers of hope and hopefully bring some strength to all those many people affected by MND.” 

Julie Macdonald, Head of Fundraising said: “It’s always wonderful to learn about the creative ways that our supporters find to raise funds for MND Scotland, and it has been touching to hear how Alan has managed to incorporate the story of his life with Liz and passion for writing in a way that will allow us to continue to be a helping hand of support for people affected by MND. Thank you, Alan. Together, we will make time count.” 

You can find out more about Alan and Liz’s story and help to support the many other people affected by MND by purchasing ‘The Girl by the Grand Canal’ here. For more ways to support our work, please visit us here.