THE FORGOTTEN MEMORIES OF VERA GLASS

When people are erased from all memory and existence, Vera’s determined to solve the reason behind the emptiness left behind.

This story is set in an alternate version of Canada in which magic, in the form of aptitudes (each person has a single ability), is commonplace and scientifically studied. One moment, Vera has an older brother, and the next, all she has is the vague, sad sense that something is missing. Vera, as the first-person narrator, completely loses all knowledge of other characters as they are erased, but—as she’s a puzzle-loving, logic-minded protagonist—she notices her strange emotional reactions to seemingly innocuous things and starts taking notes and spinning theories as to what’s going on and wonders how to make it stop. While readers know who has vanished (and so will understand the characters’ emotional reactions better than the characters themselves), the mystery of how and why includes red herrings and allows for an exploration of the magic system. Part of the mystery may be a bit obvious to some readers, and the eventual solution arrives somewhat easily. That said, the narrative concepts are novel, and the characters are easy to feel empathy for. Vera’s devout Christianity is approached with nuance and has a strong influence on her character without being preachy (there’s positive atheist representation as well). While Vera’s White, both her school and her core friend group have a lot of casual, natural diversity—White isn’t an assumed default.

A clever head trip.