Remember Me by Charity Norman

As a Facebook friend to the author I learned of this book and that it was about dementia and a mystery.  I was expecting to read about detectives uncovering clues, analyzing them and finally cornering the culprit.  Not quite like that.  Life is full of mystery and most of us have wondered about long ago events and once in awhile are able to satisfy ourselves about the real truth.  In this novel we learn right off the bat that someone went for a hike and just never returned. 

The narrator, Emily had moved to England and was not anxious to visit the family that remained in New Zealand, especially her father.  She remembered him as a cold parent who was more involved in his medical practice.  He was said to be in a very poor mental state with dementia forcing him to make bad decisions.  Her original intention was to check the situation and go back home.

Her father, Felix proved to be advancing in dementia which might have accounted for his greater appreciation and affection for his daughter.  She felt obligated to prolong her stay indefinitely.  This put her in conflict with a brother and a sister.  A topic of many in the hometown was the disappearance 25 years ago of a childhood friend, Leah of whom Emily had been the last known contact.  She uncovers some surprising information almost by accident and is later confronted by unexpected words.  

To build suspense authors sometimes use a misunderstanding.  Words and actions can be misinterpreted and later are revealed as having  been very different.  There is a good misunderstanding where one person's motivation seems to be out of character and helps suggest another person's response.  We do like surprises that add to our enjoyment.

The ending seems like an afterthought, but if you read the buildup it may well bring tears.

The main character remembered a child hood experience that reminded me of my trip to New Zealand. Going to a park in Auckland a big surprise was seeing eels being fed by some laughing youngsters.  Eels were considered weird and even to be avoided.  They can't be all bad if youngsters can play with them.  An uncle had been involved with a major dam project in Ontario that involved engineering a bypass for eels.

Part of the motivation for this novel comes from the author's experience with her mother who died after a bout of dementia.  Charity didn't know her mother had been suffering as much as she had.  Going through her mother's personal effects after the death she discovered notes that demonstrated an awareness of her impending fate.  She had listed the names of all her children, her husband and few acquaintances.  .

 My goal in this blog is to whet your appetite for the book itself and an appreciation of the author.  This is not intended to be a summary as I believe you have to read the book to understand the nuances and conclusion.  It seems likely there will be greater accessibility to her books in North America and hopefully this blog will be a small step in that direction. 

 Acknowledgements can sometimes add more understanding.  Charity admitted that she wrote parts of the novel in a Wellington cafe.  Wellington was an enjoyable city comparable to the Canadian capital Ottawa.  I can picture the relaxing atmosphere.   

My interest in this novel has a history.  About ten years ago my wife and I decided to visit our son in New Zealand.  Before that we had been given an airline credit after a hotel problem in Cuba.  It wasn't enough for a major trip, but encouraged us to plan one to visit our son.  Michael was anxious to show us more of New Zealand than just the big city of Auckland.  At one point we spent a night in Napier and reading a newspaper I caught a story about a local author.  It seemed  of some interest, but I didn't do anything until venturing in a nearby book store near where my soon lived.  I saw the book and thought it would make an interesting souvenir.  When I read it I quite enjoyed it.

I persuaded my son to bring to Canada a more recent novel.  On a subsequent visit to New Zealand I happened on a used book store and was able to buy two more of her novels.  Her books apparently were available in England and other parts of Europe, but not North America.  Since then I struggled with an ebook.  Very recently with my wife's help I was able to discover another source and unbelievably found "Remember Me", ordered online and got home delivery all within a few hours.  

My son recently married a wonderful woman who had also immigrated to New Zealand.  It seems his future is in New Zealand and I am glad to have a separate New Zealand connection.  A summary of my involvement  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2018/02/charity-norman-discovery.html