Imagine your greatest passion in life being gradually taken away from a debilitating physical condition. That’s what happens to Richard, a renowned concert pianist who develops ALS, in the latest sniffler from Lisa Genova. Faced with his mortality, he looks at failings in his personal life and sets about fixing neglected relationships. Genova (who also wrote Still Alice, about a woman living with Alzheimer’s, which was made into a film starring Julianne Moore) is a neuroscientist by day, so her prose is grounded in true-to-life realness. But the levity and humour she brings make this story more than just a tear-jerker.