The One Memory of Flora Banks

By: Emily Barr

Narrated by: Nicola Barber

Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Seventeen-year-old Flora Banks has no short-term memory. Her mind resets itself several times a day and has since the age of 10, when the tumor that was removed from Flora's brain took with it her ability to make new memories. That is, until she kisses Drake, her best friend's boyfriend, the night before he leaves town. Miraculously, this one memory breaks through Flora's fractured mind and sticks. Flora is convinced that Drake is responsible for restoring her memory and making her whole again. So when an encouraging email from Drake suggests she meet him on the other side of the world - in Svalbard, Norway - Flora knows with certainty that this is the first step toward reclaiming her life.

But will following Drake be the key to unlocking Flora's memory? Or will the journey reveal that nothing is quite as it seems?

Already a best-selling debut in the UK, this unforgettable novel is Memento meets E. Lockhart's We Were Liars and will have you racing through the story to unravel the truth.

©2017 Emily Barr (P)2017 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"[A] remarkable odyssey...an enthralling story...a deftly, compassionately written mystery.” (Booklist, starred)

"Barr’s tale mingles Oliver Sacks - like scientific curiosity with Arctic adventure and YA novel in a way that’s equally unsettling, winsome, and terrifying." (Horn Book, starred review)

"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." (Publishers Weekly)

Wonderful story! Well executed.

I would like to know more about anterograde amnesia. Flora is to this condition as Robin Williams is to aliens! She is endearing, if sometimes annoying but real. Many humanistic messages. Lovely as Emily Barr always is.

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This book was light and heavy. It touches you in such a way you can’t help but keep it in your mind. Very honest and raw and heartbreaking in all the best ways. I’m so glad I purchased this and will listen again

Really enjoyed this.

Very original, bravo to the author who tackled the topic so sensitively and realistically. I read it slowly because i didn’t want to leave Flora’s head and all her unique thoughts and feelings.
The narrator was nothing short of spectacular.

Bad Ending

I loved the narrator and the storyline. However, the ending was quite abrupt and nothing at all like I imagined. it felt like the book wasn't finished

Great story with a few disappointing parts

This is a great book. I was riveted through most of it. Large parts of it are un-put-downable.
However, there is one scene -- a very important scene, critical to the story -- that is just ... well, I was unable to suspend disbelief.
Without giving anything like spoilers, it involves a person using the internet. What it revealed, I feel, is a lack of understanding by the author of how technology she described works.
Because of that scene, mainly, I knocked 1 star off. If that could have been modified slightly (making no significant change to the story), or at least explained better, I would have given this 5 stars.

good but could have been great

I wish the autjor had spent a bit less time repeating the memory over and over again, and more time on the super interesting final part. unfortunate.