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The Reminders
by Val Emmich

Published: 2017-05-30
Hardcover : 320 pages
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From the author of Dear Evan Hansen, The Reminders is perfect for fans of J. Courtney Sullivan's The Engagement or Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project, and follows what happens when a girl who can't forget befriends a man who's desperate to remember.

Grief-stricken over his partner Sydney's ...
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Introduction

From the author of Dear Evan Hansen, The Reminders is perfect for fans of J. Courtney Sullivan's The Engagement or Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project, and follows what happens when a girl who can't forget befriends a man who's desperate to remember.


Grief-stricken over his partner Sydney's death, Gavin sets fire to every reminder in the couple's home before fleeing Los Angeles for New Jersey, where he hopes to find peace with the family of an old friend. Instead, he finds Joan.

Joan, the family's ten-year-old daughter, was born Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, or HSAM: the rare ability to recall every day of her life in cinematic detail. Joan has never met Gavin until now, but she did know his partner, and waiting inside her uncanny mind are startlingly vivid memories to prove it.

Gavin strikes a deal with Joan: in return for sharing her memories of Sydney, Gavin will help her win a songwriting contest she's convinced will make her unforgettable. The unlikely duo set off on their quest until Joan reveals unexpected details about Sydney's final months, forcing Gavin to question not only the purity of his past with Sydney but the course of his own immediate future.

Told in the alternating voices of these two irresistible characters, The Reminders is a hilarious and tender exploration of loss, memory, friendship, and renewal.

Editorial Review

An Amazon Best Book of June 2017: Joan Lennon Sully is a ten-year-old girl who has highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM). Unlike someone with a photographic memory, she doesn’t remember facts and figures and numbers; instead, she can remember exactly how many times she’s met someone, what they were wearing each time, and what they said. For most people, memories are “like a fairy tale,” vague and changing over time—not so for Joan who, perhaps not surprisingly, is obsessed with being remembered (“like John Lennon or Winston Churchill”), and who thinks writing a song will accomplish that goal. When Gavin, an aging actor and musician, is invited by Joan’s family to stay at their house, Joan’s path to her dreams seems to have been laid out before her. Gavin has recently lost his partner Sydney, and Joan has memories of Sydney, which she can relate to Gavin in return for help writing a song. But nothing turns out exactly as expected in this charming novel, and Emmich’s subtle, skillful narrative reminds us that being remembered might be important, but what we are remembered for is more important. --Chris Schluep, The Amazon Book Review

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Member Reviews

Overall rating:
 
 
by Carol C. (see profile) 09/16/21

 
  "Pleasant read that I highly recommend. "by Brenda M. (see profile) 08/04/17

I heard about the book, The Reminders by Val Emmich, when it was featured on NPR. The premise caught my attention and sounded intriguing. I enjoy books that focus on relationships between di... (read more)

 
by Angela K. (see profile) 07/15/17

 
by Caasi C. (see profile) 06/28/17

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