“A woman is like a tea bag. It’s only when she’s in hot water that you realize how strong she is.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

Opening with a punch, this book starts with Sarah crouched in the footwell of a car and her mother slumped over the wheel, a bullet in the back of her head. Orphaned at 15, Sarah’s priority is to escape from the border guards that have just killed her mother and get herself to safety.

Set at the eve of WW2, Sarah and her mother attempt to flee into Switzerland. Already pushed out of their home in Berlin, Jews living in Austria are no longer safe from the wave of National Socialism that has taken over Germany in the preceding years and the spread of its power into neighbouring countries. Sarah has been schooled by her mother in theatrical arts which, coupled with her blond hair, allows her to masquerade as an Aryan and helps her to survive.

Sneaking her way onto a boat bound for Switzerland, she rescues a mysterious gentleman, Herr Haller. Putting at risk her own safety, saves him from trouble with the border guards at the dock through her quick wit and bravery and together they dodge their way back into Germany. A German scientist is threatening to develop a nuclear bomb, which would have catastrophic consequences. Herr Haller convinces Sarah to infiltrate a Nazi school, which is grooming the female monsters of the future, so that she can befriend the scientists daughter and gain access to this lab. Sarah becomes the Orphan Monster Spy.

This is a fast paced book, full of action, but it skilfully roots itself in the horror of what Sarah and her mother have endured during the rise of National Socialism. Sarah, though seemingly unshakeable on the outside, has packed all of her terrible experiences into a box down in her soul, first as a means to keep from being overwhelmed by the weight of it all, and later as a source of power to overcome what gets put in her path. Using Sarah’s gymnastic skills as a metaphor, “commit to the move” is a refrain which comes back again and again, giving the message that you have to do something wholeheartedly and with all your effort to succeed. Timidity will lead to failure. Eloquently written, and with real heart, there was nothing timid about this debut novel. I’m looking forward to sequel.

Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them – Bob Dylan

What would you do if every 60 minutes or so, your memory erased itself and all you could remember were snatches of your earliest childhood? Through the eyes of Emily Barr’s Flora Banks, you can live that experience, where the same things happen over and over again, and you rely on those around you to keep you moving a little bit forward instead of forever going back to the beginning.

The titular One Memory of Flora is that she kisses Drake. On a beach. You’ll read this a lot. Drake is her best friend Paige’s ex boyfriend, who is leaving town to study in Svalbard. When Paige learns about the kiss, she cuts off her friendship with Flora. But the timing is terrible as Flora’s parents have to leave town to visit Flora’s older brother who is gravely ill in Paris, thinking that Paige will look after Flora. Flora finds herself having to look after herself, as Paige won’t forgive her. Keeping up the pretence that she and Paige are having a good time together, Flora finds ways of reminding herself who she is and what she needs to do to get through the week without her parents, to keep herself safe and to remember to take her medicine, all the time clinging to her One Memory. She kissed Drake. On a beach.

Ever resourceful, Flora decides to go to Svalbard to find Drake, and hopefully restore her memory. Reading about her journey was like watching through my fingers, expecting Flora to have mishap after mishap. The awkwardness and uncomfortableness of Flora in unfamiliar territory, and the quiet safety net put up by those who meet her and immediately see her vulnerability is well portrayed, the often unwritten but tangible part of the tale.

This is an incredible love story. But not the one that you expect from the first couple of chapters. I felt the frustration of Flora followed by the fear and confusion that comes when her friable memories disintegrate once again. You find yourself rooting for Flora and hoping that from the One Memory, more memories follow on.