Catherine's unravelling of the clues is gripping and persuasive, and Forster brilliantly tracks her reluctant progression from moody introspection to a more generous approach. In the slippery world of family secrets, Catherine learns that her mother is not the only woman with a hidden past. The Memory Box tantalisingly explores the consequences, sometimes affecting several generations, of suppressing or massaging vital information. It also asks serious questions about perception and memory, developing and commenting on issues raised in Forster's recently published family memoirs, Hidden Lives and Precious Lives. At the heart of her work lies a recognition of the difficulty of truthfully representing a life.
Memory is a two-way process.
By uncovering a more truthful portrait of her mother and recognising the void left by her premature death, Catherine becomes able to heal the rift in her own life and to risk again the possibility of love.