“My Name is Memory”, Ann Brashares
Published June 2010
A magical story of reincarnation and a love that lasts more than a lifetime
Daniel has spent centuries falling in love with the same girl. Life after life, crossing continents and dynasties, he and Sophia (despite her changing name and form) have been drawn together-and he remembers it all. For all the times that he and Sophia have been connected throughout history, they have also been torn painfully, fatally, apart.
But just when Sophia (now “Lucy” in the present) finally awakens to the secret of their shared past, the mysterious force that has always separated them reappears. Ultimately, they must come to understand what stands in the way of their love if they are ever to spend a lifetime together.
“There’s no continuity and the world I have come from is utterly foreign to me. I haven’t heard its music, I haven’t seen its painting, I haven’t read its books... I know only the stony plain, wandering, and the gradual loss of hope. I am the sterile offspring of a race about which I know nothing, not even whether it has become extinct. Perhaps, somewhere, humanity is flourishing under the stars, unaware that a daughter of its blood is ending her days in silence. There is nothing we can do about it.”
This book grabs you by your reincarnated soul and refuses to let go. It’s altogether sweeping, romantic, tragic, devastating. You’ll find yourself screaming “JUST FIND EACH OTHER ALREADY” into the void, as I did.
Daniel remembers all his past lives (very cool, very The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August—review coming soon, very burdensome). Sophia…doesn’t. Across centuries and lifetimes, he keeps finding her, loving her, and tragically losing her thanks to fate’s stinky sense of humor. Equal parts The Time Traveler’s Wife (book sucks, movie is great), The Notebook, and a sucker punch.
And as if the heartbreak of reading this book isn’t enough—there’s supposed to be a sequel. The ending leaves you right there on the edge, and then nothing. The publisher, in a baffling act of cruelty, is blocking the author from continuing the story or releasing the rights to this book. So be warned: read this book like a half-finished love letter, wondering what could’ve been. Justice for Daniel and Sophia. Justice for us.
Content Warnings
Note: This is not an exhaustive list of content and trigger warnings.
child abuse • war
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Owned: thrifted paperback