#BlogTour ‘Tell Me An Ending’ by Jo Harkin

Dystopian debut about a tech company that deletes unwanted memories, the consequences for those forced to contend with what they tried to forget, and the dissenting doctor who seeks to protect her patients from further harm.

What if you once had a painful memory removed? And what if you were offered the chance to get it back?

Tell Me an Ending follows four characters grappling with the question of what to remember—and what they hoped to forget forever.

Finn, an Irish architect living in the Arizona desert, begins to suspect his charming wife of having an affair.

Mei, a troubled grad school drop-out in Kuala Lumpur, wonders why she remembers a city she’s never visited.

William, a former police inspector in England, struggles with PTSD, the breakdown of his marriage, and his own secret family history.

Oscar, a handsome young man with almost no memories at all, travels the world in a constant state of fear.

Into these characters lives comes Noor, an emotionally closed-off psychologist at the memory removal clinic in London, who begins to suspect her glamorous boss Louise of serious wrongdoing.

All my thanks for the wonderful Anne of Random Things Tours and publishers Hutchinson Heinemann for my blog tour place, and gifted review copy of ‘Tell Me An Ending’ by Jo Harkin, available now from all good bookshops.

A technique which was developed with the best of intentions-much like plastic surgery-has been co-opted into a commercial concern in a not too distant future.

Told from the perspectives of people who have either had a memory wiped, or are related to those who have , this powerful and moving novel looks at the nature of memory, personality and regret.

I absolutely loved it, it is not far fetched,has an actual scientific basis in reality, and asks so many philosophical questions of the readers.

Who do memories actually belong to?

Why is there a two tier system for those who want memories removed and what does that mean ?

If you take away a memory, then are you the essential you anymore?

Does that mean all your relationships are no echoes of something which should not have happened, had you not had this removed?

And, is there a possibility that organic regrowth of memories can occur and why?

The ethics and morality of this are druve home by Noor, one of the doctors at Nepenthe, the company which performs the procedures and is under attack at the beginning of the book.

That past clients are having ‘traces’ of memories which should technically not be possible, Nepenthe is then obliged to contact each and every ‘night client’ , the ‘confidentials’ , who cannot remember they chose to take a part of themselves away ( up to a week).

The emails land with damning precision into the lives of the principle narrators either sending shock waves into previously content relationships,or spreading ripples for those who had an inkling something was not quite right.

Morally and ethically doing the ‘right thing’, Nepenthe has to offer the opportunity without alerting the client to the precise nature of what was taken.

But without this, how can the client make a truly informed decision on whether to reconstruct this memory?

Am intriguing and searching novel which I thoroughly enjoyed, Tell Me An Ending marks the appearance of a major new writer who takes something we take for granted, and explores the limitless potential for memory ownership and accountability.

About the author…

Jo Harkin’s passion is literary sci-fi, with an emphasis on how new technology impacts human lives.

Her first speculative fiction novel, Tell Me An Ending, is released in March 2022 in the US and May 2022 in the UK. She lives in Berkshire, England.

Links-https://www.instagram.com/joharkinwriter/?hl=en

Twitter @HutchHeinemann @RandomTTours