Why read Memory of Water?

Book cover of Memory of Water

Book description

With the lyricism of Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, and the world building brilliance of Atwood, Emmi Itaranta's effortless and poignant debut novel is a coming of age story full of emotional drama and wonderment. 'Where itaranta shines is in her understated but compelling characters' Red star review, Publishers Weekly.…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Memory of Water as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Phil Gilvin

Author

Itäranta is a Finnish author now living in the UK, and Memory of Water was nominated for several SF prizes.

This time, climate change has produced a serious scarcity of water, and the book, about how a young tea master's apprentice becomes possessed of important knowledge, touches on how people’s behaviour can become more primitive, against a backdrop of increasing military suppression. Again, its strength is its believability.

From Phil's list on post-civilisation futures.

Nina Munteanu

Author

This book features a passion of mine as an ecologist and mother: water and how we treat it. Life-giving symbols of water flow throughout this story, which explores a post-climate change world of sea level rise in which freshwater is severely rationed due to scarcity. Water’s very nature is tightly interwoven with the main character, Noria, a tea master who guards a secret spring in the fell by her house against cruel government agents who would kill her for water crimes. In prose both sensual and lyrical, this book explores honor, sacrifice, betrayal, and friendship, and how each can be…

From Nina's list on eco-fiction that make you care and give you hope.