The Memory of Animals
From the Costa Novel Award-winning author of Unsettled Ground
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
FROM THE COSTA AWARD-WINNING, WOMEN’S PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF UNSETTLED GROUND
'A stunning piece of speculative fiction' The i
'A haunting novel about love, survival and everything in between ... One to get excited about' Stylist, Best Modern Dystopia
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Humans are useless at learning from their mistakes. We just have to keep making new plans.
When Neffy wakes up from an uneasy sleep in a hospital bed, nothing is as it should be. There is no food, and nobody to tend to her. The city streets outside her window have fallen silent. She doesn’t know it yet, but a debilitating new virus is sweeping the globe, and the world will never be the same again.
Feverish, confused, and wary of the strangers trapped inside with her, Neffy finds solace in her own memories of the past – even the memories of the mistakes that led her here.
But as the days turn into weeks, it is clear that Neffy will have to make a choice. How do you choose between a past that has already disappeared forever, and a future you can't begin to imagine?
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'Unsettling, moving and thoughtful, with horror lurking at the edges, this is a subtle, elegant novel. Claire Fuller is a huge talent' Lucy Atkins, author of Magpie Lane
'Compulsive and thoroughly convincing. Terrific!' Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fuller (Unsettled Ground) crafts a haunting novel of second chances set in a near-future pandemic. Twenty-something Neffy, still grieving the loss of her father and embarrassed by the crumbling of her marine biology career after a professional misstep, signs up as a vaccine test subject during the early days of the pandemic. While Neffy and her fellow volunteers are isolated in a London hospital as they undergo treatment, the virus, nicknamed "Dropsy," develops a new and deadly variant, which causes sudden memory loss before certain death. Neffy, who may have developed immunity, is identified as the group's best hope for the future, but after fellow test subject Leon introduces her to a new technology called Revisiting, which allows her to relive moments from her past, she becomes increasingly drawn to the treatment. Fuller's intricately structured narrative makes great use of the Revisiting conceit, allowing Neffy's history—including her love for an octopus she once cared for at an aquarium—to wrap itself around an increasingly nightmarish present, as Neffy uncovers secrets about the virus's progression that other volunteers have been keeping from her. The entwined pain and pleasure of memory is at the heart of Neffy's story, as is the hard work of establishing trust and finding forgiveness, particularly for oneself. This is a pandemic novel, yes, but one that radically transcends the label.
