Congrats Kim
on the release today of
The Memory Collectors!
The Memory Collectors by Kim Neville
Magical Realism Fiction, 400 pages
Published March 16, 2021 by Atria Books
Perfect for fans of The Scent Keeper and The Keeper of Lost Things, an atmospheric and enchanting debut novel about two women haunted by buried secrets but bound by a shared gift and the power the past holds over our lives.
Ev has a mysterious ability, one that she feels is more a curse than a gift. She can feel the emotions people leave behind on objects and believes that most of them need to be handled extremely carefully, and—if at all possible—destroyed. The harmless ones she sells at Vancouver’s Chinatown Night Market to scrape together a living, but even that fills her with trepidation. Meanwhile, in another part of town, Harriet hoards thousands of these treasures and is starting to make her neighbors sick as the overabundance of heightened emotions start seeping through her apartment walls.
When the two women meet, Harriet knows that Ev is the only person who can help her make something truly spectacular of her collection. A museum of memory that not only feels warm and inviting but can heal the emotional wounds many people unknowingly carry around. They only know of one other person like them, and they fear the dark effects these objects had on him. Together, they help each other to develop and control their gift, so that what happened to him never happens again. But unbeknownst to them, the same darkness is wrapping itself around another, dragging them down a path that already destroyed Ev’s family once, and threatens to annihilate what little she has left.
The Memory Collectors casts the everyday in a new light, speaking volumes to the hold that our past has over us—contained, at times, in seemingly innocuous objects—and uncovering a truth that both women have tried hard to bury with their pasts: not all magpies collect shiny things—sometimes they gather darkness.
My thoughts about The Memory Collectors ~~
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)
First line—"The paper beneath Evelyn's paper mask is hot and damp, and even thought a shaft of sunlight from the open barn door reveals sawdust swirling in the air, she pulls the mask up to her forehead and allows herself a breathe of cool air.
Let me start off by saying this I think this cover is beautiful! It definitely caught my attention. And as you read the story, you'll figure out what everything on the cover means.
The story itself is wonderful. I love escaping into a world where objects take on a life of their own, or give off vibes for other people to pick up on. Evelyn thinks she is cursed because things make her feel emotions—both the good ones and the dark ones. Harriet recognizes herself in Ev and after an arduous beginning, they start to work together to create the museum of memory. Their adventure from then on makes for an amazing, magical read.
The Memory Collectors is Kim Neville's debut novel and she hit this one out of the park. I can't wait to see what she creates next!
I loved The Memory Collectors and will be recommending it to everyone. We all deserve a little escape from the real world once in a while, don't we?
I received an ARC of The Memory Collectors from the publisher and this is my honest opinion.
About the author
Kim Neville is an author and graduate of the Clarion West Writers Workshop, where she found the first shiny piece of inspiration that became The Memory Collectors. When she's not writing she can be found heron-spotting on the seawall or practicing yoga in order to keep calm. She lives near the ocean in Vancouver, Canada, with her husband, daughter, and two cats. The Memory Collectors is her first novel. ~ Goodreads
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