The One Memory of Flora Banks, Emily Barr.

“I look at my hands. One of them says FLORA be brave”

Flora Banks, the title character, is an unreliable narrator. Through no fault of her own Flora suffers from amnesia and “can’t remember anything day-to-day” except for everything before she turned 10. Perceived as different, the book shares the mental health and emotional strength of a character navigating a world she cannot recall, with faces she doesn’t know.

“Then she kisses someone she shouldn’t - and the next day she
remembers it.”

“But the boy is gone”

The book follows Flora on a metaphorical journey of discovery as she learns and begins to try to understand her life now that she is 17. However, on this note and the reason the book is 3 stars is because it is simply written information-dumping of Flora’s thoughts and actions, making it somewhat confusing and hard to follow at times - possibly written this way so the reader understands the struggle Flora faces on a daily basis with its repetitive structure and a consistent reminder not only to Flora but the reader also.

“I am really here. Yet I know I am not. I am inside something that must be buried in my head. I am layers deep in my own brain.”

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