The One Memory of Flora Banks

March 6, 2017
Flora Banks, 17, has anterograde amnesia, which has left her unable to make new memories. Flora remembers her life around and before age 10, but she must use messages written on her skin, her phone, and in a diarylike notebook to remind her of who she is and to fill in the details of recent history. Everything changes when Flora retains her memory of a kiss on the beach with Drake, her best friend Paige’s boyfriend who is leaving to study in the Arctic. In her first book for teens, British author Barr creates a realistic portrayal of Flora’s condition through her repetitive and confused first-person narration (“There was a party. Drake is leaving. Paige is sad. I am seventeen. I need to be brave”). Flora fears she will never be “normal,” but Barr carefully seeds her story with hope while challenging perceptions of normalcy. Flora’s situation may be singular, but her desire for autonomy should speak loudly to teens in the midst of their own journeys into adulthood. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kate Cooper, Curtis Brown.

Narrator Nicola Barber voices the confusion and caution of 17-year-old Flora Banks, whose memory retention ended at age 10 when she developed anterograde amnesia. Flora writes messages in notebooks and all over her skin, but Barber represents her continual frustration as she repeats phrases again and again, trying to interpret their meaning. Barber also reflects Flora's growing hope after she kisses Drake at his going-away party--and remembers much. When Drake expresses his feelings for her in emails, Flora changes from careful to courageous. She travels from England to Svalbard, an island near the North Pole, to find Drake and escape her cycle of memory losses. S.W. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine