The Memory Trap

Description

Winner of the 2015 Melbourne Prize Best Writing Award. A novel about memory, music, friendship, family rifts and reconciliation, this is a beautiful, intelligent read. Nina Jameson, an international consultant on memorial projects based in London, has been happily married to Daniel for twelve years. When her life falls apart she accepts a job in her hometown of Melbourne. There she joins her sister, Zoe, embroiled in her own problems with Elliot, an American biographer of literary women. And she finds herself caught up in age-old conflicts of two friends from her past: the celebrated pianist Ramsay Blake and his younger brother, Sean. All these people have been treading thin ice for far too long. Nina arrives home to find work, loves and entrenched obsessions under threat. A rich and compelling story of marriage, music, the illusions of love and the deceits of memory, THE MEMORY TRAP's characters are real, flawed and touchingly human.

Andrea Goldsmith originally trained as a speech pathologist and was a pioneer in the development of communication aids for people unable to speak. Her first novel, GRACIOUS LIVING, was published in 1989, followed by MODERN INTERIORS, then FACING THE MUSIC, UNDER THE KNIFE and THE PROSPEROUS THIEF, which was shortlisted for the 2003 Miles Franklin Award. Fourth Estate published REUNION in 2008. Her literary essays have appeared in HEAT, MEANJIN, AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW, BEST AUSTRALIAN ESSAYS and numerous anthologies. She has taught creative writing throughout Australia, and has mentored several new writers. She lives in inner Melbourne.