The Memory of Love: A Novel
A relatively recent addition to one of New Zealand’s tiny beachfront towns, Marion Flint has slowly become accustomed to the solitude. She can walk for miles along the beach without interrupting any raucous family outings, her salt-weathered house is built far from any neighbors, and there are days when she doesn’t see another person. Until she meets Ika, a confusingly quiet boy with a mysterious past of his own. It is through Ika that Marion is finally able to start making sense of her own troubled upbringing, and she quickly realizes that her reclusiveness is no way to foster the only meaningful human connection she’s had in years. This is a deeply poetic novel, more character-driven than plot-centered and a credit to Olsson’s narrative technique. As Marion’s connection with Ika grows stronger, the transition from her initially jumpy, fragmented narration to a smoothly flowing conclusion mirrors her protagonist’s eventual peace. Fans of Jennifer Haigh and Heidi W. Durrow will appreciate this darkly emotional novel, a piercing reminder that seclusion and introspection are not always the best pathways to revelation and forgiveness. --Stephanie Turza