The Buzz...About Books

Over the last few years, memory has become a popular storytelling device in several films  and novels.  U.K. author S. J. Watson's debut psychological thriller Before I Go to Sleep uses memory loss in a chilling way.  Before you go to sleep, you may be reading into the wee hours, engrossed in the story and trying to figure out what really happened to Christine.

Every morning Christine Lucas wakes up in strange room with a strange man sleeping beside her.  At first she assumes that she had been partying a bit too much the night before, but she soon learns the terrible truth – that she has amnesia, the result of an mysterious accident.    In fact, the strange man is her husband of many years, Ben.  Also, instead of being the twenty-something she remembers herself to be, she is in her forties and has lived with amnesia for twenty years.

Ben tells her that every night, as she sleeps, the memories of her day are lost.  She can not recall anything that has happened since before the accident.  After Ben leaves for work,  Dr. Nash calls to tell her to read the journal she has hidden in the closet.  The the journal starts with the entry "Don't trust Ben".  Thus begins the journey.  The reader finds out what Christine discovers through reading her daily journal entries.   Each day she figures out a bit more about how she was injured, what her life was like before the amnesia and what has happened to her since.  As she learns about her past, Christine starts having memory flashbacks, but she (and the reader) is not sure if these are true memories.  These memories confirm her suspicions that Ben is lying to her.  However, he may be doing this in a misguided attempt to protect her from further pain.  A definite page-turner!

Before I Go to Sleep has received good reviews in both The Guardian and The Independent.  The film rights have been sold already to Ridley Scott, with Rowan Joffe to direct.  It is also available in Large Print.

Several other novels dealing with memory have been published in the last few years.  Of the books listed below, the first four deal with Alzheimer's with Island Girl by Burlington, Ontario author Lynda Simmons  set on the Toronto Islands.  In the last two, What Alice Forgot and Remember Me?, memory loss is caused by an accident.

–written by Kelli