Author Guide · Neurological Fiction
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In 1998 Lisa Genova had just finished a PhD in neuroscience at Harvard when her grandmother Angie, then 85, walked half a mile to her bowling league, found the alley locked and walked home again. The family realised she had Alzheimer’s. Genova wanted to know what the disease felt like from the inside, and wrote a novel to find out. In 2007 she published Still Alice herself; Simon & Schuster reissued it in 2009, and in 2015 Julianne Moore won an Oscar playing its heroine. Each novel since has put one neurological or psychiatric condition at the centre of an ordinary family. This guide covers her seven key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 7 key books · 2007–2025 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Lisa Genova has written seven books: six novels and one work of non-fiction. The best known is Still Alice (2007), followed by Left Neglected (2011), Love Anthony (2012), Inside the O’Briens (2015), Every Note Played (2018), Remember (2021) and More or Less Maddy (2025). Start with Still Alice; each book after it takes a different condition, so you can follow whichever subject matters to you.
Where to Start with Lisa Genova
If you want her defining book
→ Still Alice (2007) — early-onset Alzheimer’s, told by the woman who has it.
If you want a family facing a genetic test
→ Inside the O’Briens (2015) — Huntington’s disease in a Boston police family.
If you want the science without a story
→ Remember (2021) — how memory works and why forgetting is normal.
If you want her newest novel
→ More or Less Maddy (2025) — a college student’s first year with bipolar disorder.
7 Lisa Genova Books, in Order
Still Alice
Alice Howland is a 50-year-old Harvard professor of cognitive psychology, with a successful husband and three grown children, when she is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. The novel is told from her point of view as her memory fails. Genova self-published it in 2007; Simon & Schuster reissued it in January 2009 and it spent 59 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. The 2014 film won Julianne Moore the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Left Neglected
Sarah Nickerson, a vice president of human resources living in a wealthy Boston suburb with her husband and three young children, glances away from the road while trying to make a phone call. The crash leaves her with left neglect, a brain injury in which the left side of the world simply disappears from her awareness. Her recovery forces her to rethink the life she was racing through, and brings her estranged mother back into it.
Love Anthony
Two women on Nantucket: Olivia Donatelli, alone in a cottage after the death of her son Anthony, who was diagnosed with autism at three and almost never made eye contact, and Beth Ellis, whose fourteen-year marriage has ended after her husband’s affair. Beth starts writing a story in the voice of a young autistic boy, and that voice draws the two women together.
Inside the O’Briens
Joe O’Brien, a 44-year-old police officer in the Irish Catholic neighbourhood of Charlestown in Boston, starts having bouts of disorganised thinking and outbursts of temper. The diagnosis is Huntington’s disease, which is inherited, so each of his four children in their twenties must decide whether to be tested. It reached number 12 on the New York Times list and number one for hardcover fiction in Canada.
Every Note Played
Richard Evans is a celebrated concert pianist when he is diagnosed with ALS, a disease that steadily takes away the use of his body. His ex-wife Karina, also a pianist, moves back in to care for him despite a bitter divorce, and their grown daughter Grace is drawn back into the family. The book follows his decline and the unfinished business of the marriage.
Remember
Her first non-fiction book explains how the brain decides what becomes a long-term memory, why attention matters more than effort, and how sleep, stress, diet and exercise affect memory and the risk of dementia. Its central argument is that most forgetting is normal, not a sign of disease. It was published by Harmony in March 2021.
More or Less Maddy
Maddy Banks has just finished her first year at NYU when, seemingly out of nowhere, she has her first bipolar episode. In mania she believes Taylor Swift wants her to write a biography; her lows bring self-harm. Over about a year she, her mother and her sister learn to live with medication, hospital stays and therapy. Published in January 2025, it became a number one bestseller in Canada, and a film is in development.
In What Order to Read Lisa Genova
None of Genova’s books share characters, so there is no series order to follow. Each novel stands alone and is built around a single condition — Alzheimer’s, left neglect, autism, Huntington’s, ALS, bipolar disorder — which means you can simply pick the subject that matters most to you.
Publication order does show her range widening: the first two novels stay with one central character, while Love Anthony, Inside the O’Briens and Every Note Played spread the story across two women, a family or a couple. Read Remember alongside Still Alice if you want the science behind the novel.
A reading path
1. Still Alice (2007)
2. Inside the O’Briens (2015)
3. Every Note Played (2018)
4. Remember (2021)
5. More or Less Maddy (2025)
The years · 1970–2025
Quick facts about Lisa Genova
- Known for
- Writing novels about neurological illness from the inside, starting with Still Alice, her self-published novel about early-onset Alzheimer’s
- 1970
- Born 22 November
- 1998
- PhD in neuroscience, Harvard
- 2007
- Still Alice, self-published
- 2015
- Julianne Moore wins the Oscar for Still Alice
- Born
- 22 November 1970
- Education
- Bates College, biopsychology (1992, first in her class); PhD in neuroscience, Harvard University (1998)
- Before fiction
- Research at Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, Yale and the National Institutes of Health; writing full-time from 2004
- Adaptation
- Still Alice (2014), with Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin and Kristen Stewart
- Honours
- Alzheimer’s Association Rita Hayworth Award (2016); honorary degree, Bates College (2016)
- TED talk
- “What you can do to prevent Alzheimer’s” (2017)
The red mark is 2007: Still Alice, the novel she first published herself.
How Lisa Genova Writes: The Disease from the Inside
Genova starts with a diagnosis, not a plot. Each novel takes one condition — Alzheimer’s, left neglect, autism, Huntington’s, ALS, bipolar disorder — and asks what it does to a single person and the family around them. She draws on her training as a neuroscientist: diagnosis, tests and symptoms are described in clinical detail, inside a domestic story.
Her narrators are ordinary, busy, successful people who are not expecting anything to go wrong: a Harvard professor, an HR executive, a Boston police officer, a concert pianist, a student at NYU. Still Alice is told from inside Alice’s head as her memory fails, so the reader loses track along with her. Later novels widen the view to the people doing the caring, such as Karina in Every Note Played and Joe’s children in Inside the O’Briens.
Her work outside fiction runs the same way: she serves on advisory boards of organisations working on Alzheimer’s and ALS, gave a 2017 TED talk on reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s, and in Remember sets out the science of memory directly, without a story around it.
Watch
Lisa Genova on Conversations from Penn State
Lisa Genova talks on WPSU’s Conversations from Penn State about how her neuroscience background shapes Still Alice and Left Neglected, her family’s experience of Alzheimer’s and her then-upcoming novel Love Anthony. From the official wpsu channel.
Frequently asked questions about Lisa Genova’s books
How many books has Lisa Genova written?
Seven: six novels — Still Alice, Left Neglected, Love Anthony, Inside the O’Briens, Every Note Played and More or Less Maddy — and one work of non-fiction, Remember.
What are Lisa Genova’s books in order?
Still Alice (2007), Left Neglected (2011), Love Anthony (2012), Inside the O’Briens (2015), Every Note Played (2018), Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting (2021) and More or Less Maddy (2025).
Where should I start with Lisa Genova?
With Still Alice, her first and best-known novel. If a different condition is closer to your own life, start with that book instead: none of them depend on each other.
What is Lisa Genova’s most famous book?
Still Alice, about a Harvard professor with early-onset Alzheimer’s. It spent 59 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was adapted as the 2014 film that won Julianne Moore the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Was Still Alice self-published?
Yes. Genova published it herself through iUniverse in 2007. Simon & Schuster picked it up and reissued it in January 2009 under its Pocket Books imprint.
Is Lisa Genova a real neuroscientist?
Yes. She graduated first in her class from Bates College in 1992 with a degree in biopsychology and earned a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard in 1998, then did research at hospitals including Massachusetts General and McLean before writing full-time.
Have Lisa Genova’s books been made into films?
Still Alice was filmed in 2014 with Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin and Kristen Stewart; the film moves the story from Harvard to Columbia University in New York. It was also adapted for the stage by the Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago in 2013. A film of More or Less Maddy is in development.
What disease is in Inside the O’Briens?
Huntington’s disease, an inherited neurological illness. The novel follows Joe O’Brien, a Boston police officer, and his four adult children as they decide whether to find out if they carry the gene.
What is More or Less Maddy about?
Maddy Banks, who has her first bipolar episode after her first year at NYU, and the year that follows as she and her family learn to live with the diagnosis. It was published in January 2025.
What inspired Still Alice?
Her grandmother Angie, who developed Alzheimer’s in 1998, when Genova had just finished her neuroscience PhD. She wanted to understand what the disease felt like for the person who has it, not only for those watching.
Footnotes
- Lisa Genova — Wikipedia
- Still Alice (novel) — Wikipedia
- Still Lisa — Bates College, 2009
- About Lisa — lisagenova.com
- More or Less Maddy — Kirkus Reviews
- Remember — Kirkus Reviews
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Memory is the sum of what we remember and what we forget.”
— Lisa Genova, Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting (2021)
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