{"product_id":"the-memory-of-animals-isbn-9781953534873","title":"The Memory of Animals","description":"\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eBoston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer,\u003c\/i\u003e Gizmodo, Shondaland, LitHub \u0026amp; Tor.com Best Book of Summer and a \u003ci\u003eGood Housekeeping\u003c\/i\u003e Best Book of 2023 So Far. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A haunting novel of second chances.”—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, Starred Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the award-winning author of \u003ci\u003eOur Endless Numbered Days\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003ci\u003e Swimming Lessons\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBitter Orange\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eUnsettled Ground\u003c\/i\u003e comes a beautiful and searing novel of memory, love, survival—and octopuses.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eIn the face of a pandemic, an unprepared world scrambles to escape the mysterious disease causing sensory damage, nerve loss, and, in most cases, death. Neffy, a disgraced and desperately indebted twenty-seven-year-old marine biologist, registers for an experimental vaccine trial in London—perhaps humanity’s last hope for a cure. Though isolated from the chaos outside, she and the other volunteers—Rachel, Leon, Yahiko, and Piper—cannot hide from the mistakes that led them there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs London descends into chaos outside the hospital windows, Neffy befriends Leon, who before the pandemic had been working on a controversial technology that allows users to revisit their memories. She withdraws into projections of her past—a childhood bisected by divorce, a recent love affair, her obsessive research with octopuses, and the one mistake that ended her career. The lines between past, present, and future begin to blur, and Neffy is left with defining questions: Who can she trust? Why can’t she forgive herself? How should she live, if she survives?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClaire Fuller’s \u003ci\u003eThe Memory of Animals\u003c\/i\u003e is an ambitious, deeply imagined work of survival and suspense, grief and hope, consequences and connectedness that asks what truly defines us—and to what lengths we will go to rescue ourselves and those we love.\"A book of survival, consequences and connection.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e, A Best Book of Summer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Imagine a ‘Lord of the Flies’ where everyone on the island has opted in; or a ‘Breakfast Club’ where anyone who leaves dies. . . . It’s a neat trick that Fuller pulls off, weaving together so many familiar threads, from the post-pandemic storyline to the extremity-in-isolation scenario to the life story reconceived under duress, and yet coming up with a new and promising pattern—an authorial performance in keeping with her generous character.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A haunting novel of second chances.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, Starred Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"No mere survival story, the novel explores the isolation and grief that comes with outliving the people with whom you have unfinished business.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Philadelphia Inquirer,\u003c\/i\u003e A Best Book of June\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Brings to mind Emily St. John Mandel’s \u003ci\u003eStation Eleven\u003c\/i\u003e and Sequoia Nagamatsu’s \u003ci\u003eHow High We Go in the Dark.\"\u003c\/i\u003e —\u003cb\u003eLitHub, A Best SciFi \u0026amp; Fantasy Book of June\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A thrilling departure from our reality.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eGood Housekeeping\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Fuller excels in examining the everyday moments at the heart of a life. . . . A memorable meditation on how the human struggle to survive in captivity is not so different than that of our animal kin.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Makes us ponder what we owe each other as humans.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A fascinating and suspenseful story of shame, penance, and survival.\"—\u003cb\u003eBustle\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"The Memory of Animals\u003c\/i\u003e has done the impossible—made me eagerly anticipate a novel that involves a pandemic in the year 2023. It's also got: experimental technology that allows users to revisit their memories, marine biology, and promises to be an immersive, thought-provoking, and haunting-in-a-good-way literary masterwork.\" —\u003cb\u003ePowell's\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Infused with both surprise and recognition, \u003ci\u003eThe Memory of Animals\u003c\/i\u003e looks at the impossible choices sometimes required for survival.\"—\u003cb\u003eElectric Literature, Best Small Press Books of Summer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Stunning. . . . Sobering and evocative, \u003ci\u003eThe Memory of Animals\u003c\/i\u003e is a novel about who we choose to be when the lights go out.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eForeword Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e, Starred Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"When Fuller releases something, you should probably pay attention. This dystopia is giving off thriller vibes with its pandemic reality, the complications of squid, and survival.\"—\u003cb\u003eIndependent Book Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Compelling. . . . Riveting. . . . long-time Fuller readers will relish this completely engrossing story, which questions what we value most.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, Starred Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An unsettling search for survival.\"—\u003cb\u003eTor\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Stands out in the new wave of pandemic literature in the ways it captures the emotional toll of isolation.. . . Fuller has created a heartwarming portrait of what it means to find hope at the end of the world and carry on, not only for those you lost, but for those you found in the aftermath.\"—\u003cb\u003eWest Trade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Brisk, lucid…. \u003ci\u003eThe Memory of Animals\u003c\/i\u003e is at its most powerful when it functions like a kind of Covid Revisitor for readers, evoking subtler memories of uncertainty, freedom, and enclosure—of trying, when all else is stripped away, to figure out what we owe one another.\" —\u003cb\u003eSouthern Humanities Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A layered and smart narrative. . . . Ms. Fuller wisely foreshadows while also leaving readers guessing when the other shoe will drop.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Pittsburgh Post-Gazette\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An imaginative blend of science and spirit. . . . Claire Fuller has siphoned all of the beauty of being human into this work.\"—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eArkansas International\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Between wanting to do the right thing and the vortex of mistakes from the past there is a real place, one woven from danger and desire. Claire Fuller’s riveting novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Memory of Animals\u003c\/i\u003e, creates a world within a world where a young woman marine biologist faces off with a global pandemic and the hopes for a vaccine by diving into her own past. She might retrieve some fragment that could secure self-preservation as well as—if not humanity, then at least the human heart.\" —\u003cb\u003eLidia Yuknavitch, author of \u003ci\u003eThrust\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Claire Fuller is my favorite storyteller. I read \u003ci\u003eThe Memory of Animals\u003c\/i\u003e in one sitting, swept up by the thriller-like pace and the sheer joy of reading a great story. Yet, in the book’s aftermath, I was haunted by Neffy’s fumbling humanity in the face of loss and fear, and how courage isn’t always obvious—even to those who find it. Fuller’s books come in at the eyes, but they settle right behind the heart.\" —\u003cb\u003eMelanie Finn, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Hare\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Claire Fuller is such an interesting and original writer and takes on complex themes with such a cool, clear eye. In \u003ci\u003eThe Memory of Animals\u003c\/i\u003e she has produced another literary page-turner. The collision between altruism and the survival instinct at the heart of the book is brilliantly dramatized and her disturbing vision of post-pandemic moral collapse is compulsive and thoroughly convincing. Terrific!\" —\u003cb\u003eClare Chambers, author of\u003ci\u003e Small Pleasures\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Haunting and unsettling, moving and thoughtful—with horror lurking at the edges—this is a subtle, elegant novel, an interesting and unusual take on the meaning of pandemic. Claire Fuller is a huge talent.\"—\u003cb\u003eLucy Atkins, author of \u003ci\u003eWindmill Hill\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Claire Fuller is a fascinating writer, and \u003ci\u003eThe Memory of Animals\u003c\/i\u003e is further evidence of her powers. Her story is one of survival, but her subject is humanity itself. With immense skill, she shines a light on the dark heart of our existence—the beauty and brutality of human behavior. An unforgettable novel.: —\u003cb\u003eKathleen MacMahon, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Home Scar\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Full of jeopardy and strangeness, but also laced with Fuller's trademark generosity and compassion, a startling and satisfying book.\"—\u003cb\u003eJulie Myerson, author of \u003ci\u003eNonfiction\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eClaire Fuller\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eOur Endless Numbered Days,\u003c\/i\u003e which won the Desmond Elliott Prize; \u003ci\u003eSwimming Lessons; Bitter Orange;\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eUnsettled Ground,\u003c\/i\u003e which won the Costa Novel Award and was a finalist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. She has an MA in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Winchester and lives in Hampshire with her husband.\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nwww.clairefuller.co.uk\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\nMy phone has run out of battery. I lean out of the bed, almost at falling point, following the wire to plug it in. Rest. I swing my legs over the edge of the bed and search around for the TV remote, pat the bedcovers, remember that there isn’t one. I see a glimpse of my skin between top and shorts, purple bruising on my sides and belly as though I have been kicked repeatedly. It’s sore when I press it. My shorts are wet and the sheet is wet too but I don’t smell anything. I tug the sheet off, resting after each movement, and push it under the bed with my toes. The plastic mattress is clammy. It will do. I sit. “Telly on,” I say, and it comes out as a croak, but the screen on the wall miraculously wakes, perhaps only to be polite. Some sitcom is showing with canned laughter. “Channel one,” I say. The television power button flashes but the programme doesn’t change. “Channel three,” I say, and the picture switches to an almost identical sitcom except the characters are Black and American. Channel four is showing horses, those white ones from the Camargue galloping through water. I skip through the channels, Sky and even CNN, which has a static picture of a CNN building and scrolling text that reads, An update will follow shortly. I leave it on this.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nThe blinds on the exterior window are still up and it’s day outside. Is it morning or afternoon? All the toast and tea has been eaten and drunk although I don’t recall finishing it, and the plate and the cup are still there. I pause on the side of the bed, gathering strength, then stand and go to the window, and when I look to the east the sun is rising over London. At the end of the alley I see movement and I tense for what might be coming, but as I watch, a fallow deer trots around the corner. It’s young and long-legged, the spots on its orange coat easy to see. It stops below my window to look about and scratch behind its ear with a hind hoof and then something must scare it because, with a flick of its tail, it’s off.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nAcross the alleyway Sophia’s blinds are up but her apartment is dark. She has written me a message: YES, I AM HEAR. I register the spelling mistake but I’m confused by what she’s written until I read the last one I stuck up which I don’t remember writing: ARE YOU THERE? I rest against the wall, legs weak and shaky, and turn back to my room to see the muddled duvet, a pillow under the bed with my dirty sheet, my water jug empty. A towel lies on the bathroom floor, my toothbrush beside it. No one has been in to clean, to take my pulse or my blood, to bring me food, to ask me my name and date of birth.\u003cbr\u003e\n","brand":"Tin House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233712517349,"sku":"NP9781953534873","price":27.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781953534873.jpg?v=1767740467","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-memory-of-animals-isbn-9781953534873","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}