The Life Lucy Knew by Karma Brown (Review by Sarah Doherty)
Rating: 5/5*
Memories are important; they shape us and our beliefs, they provide a basis for decisions we make, they can make us laugh and cry, and they help us form relationships of all sorts.
What would you do if you could no longer depend on your memories?
Lucy Sparks has to come to terms with this question after falling and hitting her head while out running an errand on a winter day. She wakes up and soon realizes that not only has she forgotten much of the last few years of her life, but her mind has filled in the blank space with very vivid false memories and she can no longer trust what she feels so strongly to be her truth. It’s tough on her and also on her loved ones, as they navigate this new unchartered territory in their lives. Will they be able to reconcile the life they once had or will Lucy’s false memories interfere and put them all on a brand new path?
The character that Brown created in Lucy Sparks was so complex and relatable that I found myself really feeling for her and imagining how confusing and scary her situation must be. I even caught myself thinking ‘What if it were me, what if my memories are all false, too?!’ Another thing that made this novel a home run for me was that it was set in Toronto; as someone who was born and raised in this lovely city, I found it very easy to envision each scene and relate to the characters even further. It felt natural reading about Lucy and the other characters in her life and it was easy to empathize with each of them.