I’m thrilled to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for thought provoking suspense filled novel Remember Me by Charity Norman. Thank you to Anne Cater and Allen and Unwin for giving me the opportunity to read and review this gorgeously written and moving book.
About the book:
A heart-rending, thought-provoking tale of a close-knit community ripped apart by its local GP’s disturbing, fragmented revelations as he succumbs to debilitating memory loss – revelations that cast new light on an unsolved missing-persons case and which throw the lives of those closest to him into unfathomable turmoil.
They never found Leah Parata. Not a boot, not a backpack, not a turquoise beanie. After she left me that day, she vanished off the face of the earth. A close-knit community is ripped apart by disturbing revelations that cast new light on a young woman’s disappearance twenty-five years ago.
After years of living overseas, Emily returns to New Zealand to care for her father who has dementia. As his memory fades and his guard slips, she begins to understand him for the first time – and to glimpse shattering truths about his past.
Are some secrets best left buried?
Another page-turning, emotive suspense novel from the Richard & Judy bestselling author of After the Fall and Radio 2 Book Club pick, 2020’s The Secrets of Strangers – ideal reading-group fiction, perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult and Clare Mackintosh.
About the author:
Charity is the author of six novels. She was born in Uganda, brought up in draughty vicarages in the North of England and met her husband under a truck in the Sahara desert. She worked for some years as a family and criminal barrister in York Chambers, until, realising that her three children barely knew her, she moved with her family to New Zealand where she began to write.
After the Fall was a Richard & Judy and World Book Night title, The New Woman a BBC Radio 2 Book Club choice. See You in September (2017) was shortlisted for best crime novel in the Ngaio Marsh Awards. Her sixth, The Secrets of Strangers, was released on 7th May 2020 and was also a Radio 2 Book Club choice.
Remember Me is her seventh novel.
Charity loves hearing from readers. Please visit her on facebook.com/charitynormanauthor or Twitter: @charitynorman1
My Review:
Remember Me by Charity Norman is a thought provoking and suspense filled novel that is as heartbreaking as it is gripping. Set in New Zealand, it’s a beautifully written and emotional story that I found to be incredibly moving and harrowing at times.
Twenty five years ago Dr Leah Parata went on a hiking trip in adverse weather and disappeared without a trace. Emily Kirkland was the last person to speak to Leah as she departed on the morning of her trip. Now, twenty five years later, after spending most of that time living overseas, Emily is back to take care of her ailing father who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. As Dr Kirkland’s memory fades and his defences come down, he begins to reveal more about his hidden past. Emily feels as though she is getting to know the real Felix Kirkland for the very first time, but is it too little too late? And is she about to discover things about her father that she would much rather not have known?
To reveal too much about the plot would spoil the tense atmosphere of the story as the secrets of the past are slowly and devastatingly revealed. But as Emily’s father becomes increasingly frail and the man he used to be slips further and further away, Remember Me also gives us a brutally honest but compassionate insight into Alzheimer’s and how it effects not only the sufferer but also their whole family and all of the people around them. Having seen someone I love being lost to the ravages of dementia, this aspect of the book resonated with me on a personal level, and I felt every emotion alongside Emily and her siblings as they try to come to terms with their father’s illness.
But as real and moving as it is, Remember Me is also the gripping tale of a close knit community that has never recovered from the disappearance of one of their own a quarter of a century ago. What really happened to Leah Parata all those years ago and will her fate ever be known? As the secrets of the past slowly begin to emerge, is it in anyone’s best interests for the shocking truth to be revealed? Or would it be better for it to remain hidden forever?
Charity Norman‘s writing is beautiful as she peels back the layers to reveal a story that will make your heart hurt. A tense and suspense filled novel with human lives at its centre, Remember Me is a book I would highly recommend.
Remember Me by Charity Norman is available to buy now:
Follow along with the blog tour to see what these other fabulous bloggers have to say about this brilliant book:
Cal Turner Reviews 
So glad that we are in complete agreement about this title. I love her writing too. ♥
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