The Memory Collectors — Kim Neville

“Like the magical objects collected by its protagonists, this novel is emotionally transformative.” -- Kirkus Reviews

Ev has a mysterious ability, one that she feels is more a curse than a gift. She can feel the emotions people leave behind on objects, and believes that most of them need to be handled extremely carefully, and -- if at all possible -- destroyed. The harmless ones she sells at Vancouver's Chinatown Night Market to scrape together a living, but even that fills her with trepidation. Meanwhile, in another part of town, Harriet hoards thousands of these treasures and is starting to make her neighbors sick as the overabundance of heightened emotions start seeping through her apartment walls.

When the two meet, Harriet knows that Ev is the only person who can help her make something truly spectacular of her collection -- a museum of memory that not only feels warm and inviting but can heal the emotional wounds many people unknowingly carry around. But they know of only one other person like them, and they fear the dark effects these objects had on him. Together, they help each other to develop and control their gift, so that what happened to him never happens again . . .

The Memory Collectors casts the everyday in a new light, speaking to the hold that our past has over us -- contained, at times, in seemingly innocuous objects -- and uncovering a truth that both women have tried hard to bury with their pasts: Not all magpies collect shiny things -- sometimes they gather darkness.

“A remarkable piece of magical realism, imaginative and vivid in its specificity.” -- Shelf Awareness (starred review)

“Mesmerizing . . . reminds me of the great M.J. Rose at her best. But Neville corners the market when it comes to gothic eeriness and a Stephen King-like sense of unease . . . an elegant and beautifully crafted tale.” -- Providence Journal