I had mixed feelings about this one. Although the story was quite unique, there were a few parts that I just couldn't connect with, unfortunately. A good book overall though!

With thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for allowing us a review copy of The One Memory of Flora Banks.



Flora doesn’t remember anything after she was 10 years old, but she has notes on her hand prompting her to be brave and a notebook which contains her story, telling her how when she was 10 she had a tumour, which on removal left her with short time memory problems. Those memory problems means she only retains memories for a couple of hours, so she will live in the same place her whole life with her mum and dad and helped by her best friend Paige.



But when Flora attends a party and kisses her best friend’s boyfriend she wakes with a new memory, she remembers she kissed Drake on the beach and she loves him. Unfortunately having kissed her best friends boyfriend this spells the end to her friendship with Paige, who is supposed to be looking after her when Flora’s parents are called away to look after her older brother who is very ill.



Suddenly Flora finds herself really needing to be brave as she must cope on her own, with just her notes to remind her where she is, where her parents are and that she loves Drake, still carrying the memory of the kiss she finds herself going on an amazing adventure sure that Drake is the key to her recovering her memory.



Underneath the main plot is also a narrative in which we question whether Flora can trust the information given to her by those around her, after all she has no recent memories of her own and can only trust the information she is given by her parents and those around her, but what if they are keeping secrets from her?



A fabulously written young adult story that kept me gripped with its twist and turns, a few times I struggled with the timeline of Flora’s memory as she lapsed between being able to remember and times of forgetfulness and it was difficult to work out a time, but this worked with the plot and helped you to relate to Flora’s own concept of time and memory.

Written in a way that makes the reader really understand how Flora's memory works. It was a great story with plot twists, humour and sadness.

Oh damn... another casualty to my netgalley reading pile. They kindly provided me with a copy A YEAR ago 😩🤷‍♀️
In my defence; I thought The One Memory Of Flora Bank would get me out my reading funk 😒 It didn’t.

I absolutely HATE the writing style! A bit strong I know... BUT hear me out. It’s wooden and forced. I’ve never suffered amnesia like Flora so I don’t know what it feels like and to be honest the story doesn’t really help me to connect or even understand her life. She’s like a child trapped in a teenagers body.

Skip forward and the terrible writing has disappeared, now you get to see the real story. Flora who won’t let a dodgy memory hold her back!

“Live in the moment whenever you can.”

🔆 Received an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review 🔆

I really enjoyed Flora Banks and her story - much more than I thought I would. The helplessness she experiences every day in that she is totally reliant on the people around her telling the truth, is conveyed really well and it is pretty scary. The fact that in spite of all of this, Flora is brave and resourceful and true to herself, makes her a protagonist for cheering on!

With apologies for the extreme lateness of the review, this is a wonderfully immersive story with a great concept at it's heart. There are a couple of moments that strain the credibility of it's premise a little too much (though I'm remaining spoiler-free here), but overall it's a story that will stick with you after you discover the twists and turns that make it so emotional.

Such a wonderful and moving story. Flora is such a fantastic, charming and beautiful character with such a tragic story. Flora has been unable to make new memories since she was 10 years old. She uses her notebook to keep things right. The adventure she has is incredible given her circumstances and if we all had a spot of Flora's bravery then life would definitely

Flora is seventeen, she lives in Penzance, Cornwall, she had an accident when she was ten and has anterograde amnesia as a consequence.

She forgets things easily and has to leave herself reminders so she doesn’t start to panic. Phone numbers, where her parents are, who her friends are- it’s a struggle living the same day over and over. ‘Flora-be brave’ says her hand, so she is.

Then she kisses her friends boyfriend and for the first time since she was ten she can remember every detail.

Could Drake be her cure?

She goes on an adventure to find him-but it doesn’t all go to plan, she’s lost and confused but is she also about to be heartbroken too?

This book surprised me. I enjoyed it, even though there were some moments that made me angry and feel sorry for Flora.

Her voice was written so well I could really understand the conflict that was going on in her head. It was interesting reading that point of view and it definitely made me think about how hard it must be to have memory loss like that.

I mean, I can’t remember my childhood but some memories I’ve deliberately forgotten. Flora has no choice in the matter.

It’s a great read- I really like the premise. Floras erratic behaviour in an attempt to regain memories mad it a really quick read!

All in all, a good story!
It was a shame that Drake turned out to be a crappy character.

3/5 Stars

Stevie‘s review of The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr
Young Adult Fiction published by Philomel Books 02 May 17

I’m fond of unreliable narrators, particularly the type who warn us from the outset not to believe everything they tell us. Best of all are stories where even the narrator can’t be certain what’s true or the extent and scope of their deception. Flora Banks has to rely on others, and on her own written words, to tell her about recent events – or indeed anything that has happened to her in the past seven years – and we can’t be certain at any given time whether those around her are being entirely honest with her, or whether the notes she makes before her memories fade are a strictly accurate account of what she just experienced.


We first meet Flora at a farewell party for her best friend Paige’s boyfriend, who is about to leave and study overseas. Unlike the other guests, Flora is dressed in clothes more appropriate for the ten year old whose memories she retains, than for the girl of seventeen whose body she inhabits. The book Flora’s mother started for her, and which Flora regularly adds to, tells of a brain tumour, whose removal seven years earlier prevents her from forming new memories, and the most vivid of the words written on her arms remind her of her name and to “Be brave.” At the party, Flora accepts a glass of wine – even though the writing on her arm tells her not to drink alcohol – and later she follows a boy – her best friend’s boyfriend, Drake – to the beach. There, they talk and kiss, but she makes excuses not to go home with him.

The next day, Flora finds that her memories of kissing Drake are just as clear as events that happened before her memory problems began, but after that no other new events stick in her mind. She wants to tell Paige, who has already found out about the betrayal, and no longer wants to be her friend. While Flora is trying to make sense of events, her parents announce that they have to leave her to visit her older brother who is in Paris, and very ill, but that Paige will be staying to keep Flora safe and ensure that she takes her medication. Flora sees her parents off, without telling them of her estrangement from Paige, and begins trying to take care of herself.

Flora and Drake exchange emails, and when it becomes clear that Flora’s parents will be away longer than planned, and that no one else can explain to Flora what is happening, she sets out to find Drake at his research centre in the Arctic Circle. Although she’s been told she has no passport – hence her parents leaving her behind while they travel to France – she finds it easily and books a flight to Norway using her father’s emergency credit card: and writing its PIN prominently on her arm.

I loved Flora and her adventures, not all of which we see; it becomes apparent early on that she is repeating her actions and following up on the same ideas frequently, but not always doing so when we are following her. The narration meanders rather than flows, sometimes speeding up and sometimes looping back on itself as Flora tries to make sense of the world around her with the help of her notebook, the words written on her arms and her saved emails and text messages. At times it’s hard to know who Flora can trust, or even whether those around her should trust Flora, but as the story progresses we realise that even those closest to her have been lying – often with the best of intentions – while some strangers prove to be her greatest allies of all.

A book I know I’ll have to reread in order to make sense of every aspect of events, and I can’t wait for the author to write more Young Adult books.

Grade: A

So, Flora forgets everything that she is told. It kind of reminds me of the Silence from Doctor Who; she writes things on her hands, has a journal that she reads when she forgets, and yet. And yet. She goes on a trip across the world because of a BOY. *sigh*

I don't think I would be as irritated had Flora done something like, I don't know, tell her parents where she was going? Nah.

To be honest, this book actually wasn't as bad as I am angrily making it out to be. Whilst Flora irritated the sh*t out of me, I really enjoyed reading this. The ending was not what I expected, and I found it really fascinating! Also, I really want to travel to Northern Europe and the Arctic, where she was, and I thought that Emily Barr made a really great atmosphere. I liked how Flora was trying to navigate the world. My memory is so important to me, and it the thought of me ever losing it terrifies me!

For some reason as well, the parents were absent for? like? half? Okay, so they were off doing something admittedly very important, but Flora was in the middle of the Arctic, trying to go after this guy (WHO WAS A COMPLETE AND UTTER DOUCHEBAG AND CAN WE HAVE MORE TIMES IN YA WHERE THE PROTAG REALISES HOW MUCH OF A DICK THE LOVE INTEREST IS PLEASE?!) and she could literally DIE from not remembering... and yet the still didn't drop everything to come and get her!? Or even ONE parent coming to get her?! They just let her chill in the Arctic (pun intended).

Also Drake was annoying, and I hated him. Gah.

Overall? I think that this was a really interesting debut novel! I was lucky enough to meet Emily Barr at YALC 2017, and she is a lovely human who signed my arc of the TRUTH AND LIES OF ELLA BLACK (which I have yet to read but I will get to it soon, honest!). I also loved the motif of "Flora, Be Brave," although perhaps more helpful like, "Flora, call mum at: xxxxxxxxxx" would have been slightly more helpful.

Thank you to netgalley and Penguin Random House Children's for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Flora Banks has no short term memory and her parents have had to leave the country to look after Flora's dying brother. However Flora has one recent memory, and that's of kissing Drake. So she leaves England and goes to Norway to find Drake at his uni on a tiny island in hopes that it will help return her memory.

Ugh this book. Every problematic trope you can think of to do with mental health is in it. And most trigger warnings to do with mental health you can think of are also needed. This was one of those books I somehow ended up hate reading about halfway through and I had to know the ending so kept reading it despite not liking it.

Most of the characters were just terrible people. The main love interest refused to own up to the mess he made. The best friend got so mad that she just left her best friend to fend for herself even though said best friend had a literal memory problem. And do not get me started on her parents. Her parents literally left her alone when they left the country to care for their other child, despite the fact Flora has short term memory loss and mental health problems. Which in my mind is just terrible behaviour from parents.

Even the end was such a disappointment that I wish I hadn't read that far. Yes the writing definitely hooked me in but in the bad way. I knew what was going to happen but I just wanted to keep reading in hopes that I was wrong, but I wasn't. The writing style is really different, it's really repetitive but that's because it's told from Flora's POV so whenever her memory reset itself she had to read notes to herself to remind her of what she was doing. I wouldn't have had an issue with this because I understand it's plot purpose but it was so focussed on Drake that I just rolled my eyes every time.

Another thing I really didn't like was that this book kind of gave off the idea that pills are bad. That they turn you into a different person if you take pills for mental health reasons. I'm not sure if that's what Barr intended but that's what it read like to me. And I'm on anti depressants so I really hate reading that kind of thing.

This is Emily Barr's first novel for children, and after finishing it in less than 24 hours I think I can safely say that it won't be her last.  Our central character is a 17 year old girl called Flora Banks who suffers from anterograde amnesia.  She has zero memory.  Everything she knows about herself is written in a journal, through notes left all over her house by herself and her family and by what she writes down on herself.  She lives with her mother and father in Cornwall and her best friend is called Paige.  One night she goes to a party and ends up on the beach kissing a boy called Drake (who is actually Paige's boyfriend but that's another part of the story).  The next day Flora wakes up and can actually remember kissing Drake - this is her first actual memory since she fell ill at the age of 10.

And so the book continues.... Flora is delighted at both remembering, and kissing Drake.  Paige is furious with her. Drake is off to the Arctic to study so Flora will see him no more.  At the same time as all of this is happening, Flora's brother Jacob, who we learn lives in Paris, is taken seriously ill and her parents have no option but to fly out to be with him.  They decide that due to Flora's condition the best thing that they can do is to leave her behind in Cornwall with Paige to look after her.  What they don't know, as they board their plane, is that Flora and Paige are no longer talking to each other, due to 'the kiss' and that Flora is seemingly on her own for the first time in seven years.

What continues is how Flora copes with this situation.  I don't want to give the plot away so won't reveal much more but suffice to say it involves heartbreak, travel and a breakthrough though not necessarily in that order.  Yes there have been some reviews that say that parts of this book are repetitive but I think that's the point - Flora has memory loss so when she remembers something she keeps referring to it again and again.  It didn't bother me one bit. 

If you like YA books, or have read any other of Emily Barr's books then I can't see why you wouldn't want to read this.  I was rooting for Flora throughout, she's a great character.

This book was marketed a little differently to other books I've seen, containing quotes from nearly every member of Penguin's Publishing team about how fantastic it is and why they were totally hooked. In some ways this put me off a little, I tend to skip over the quotes of praise because I like to form my own opinion, and there were just too many here. In other ways though, it intrigued me. This was a book they were clearly VERY passionate about. The fact that it received such mixed reviews from favourite bloggers of mine had me even more intrigued. Some hated it, others loved it! I was determined to read it for myself and form my own conclusion.

And there were some enjoyable aspects of this book. I liked the characters, I felt that they were formed pretty well. Paige was brilliant to read, even though she spends most of the book being angry with the MC, it was clear that she was still a really good friend to Flora because she dealt with her mental illness really well. Every character was memorable, that's for sure, and I especially liked all of the people she met in Svalbard - Agi and Toby especially! Barr does have really great writing skills too and the story felt pretty well paced with some great twists thrown in for good measure (which you'd expect in such a thrilling adventure). The idea behind this book is SO cool too, and the inclusion of Anterograde Amnesia is unusual. The way that Barr included this in some ways really worked, and it was enjoyable to read such an original plot.

In the end though, this book didn't quite live up to the hype. Unfortunately, when the MC has problems making new memories that's going to lead to a lot of repetition and that got REALLY boring after a while. In fact, a fair amount of the book is filled with Flora having the same realisations over and over again and they were not fun to keep repeating. It meant a slow start too which was really difficult to get into. Flora could only remember things prior to the onset of the amnesia at ten years old, meaning that she had essentially not 'grown up'. This was also really annoying and very uncomfortable to read - especially the 'sexting' with Drake. In fact Drake generally was a problem character for me and I winced through a lot of the 'I love Drake. He kissed me on the beach. He is the love of my life.' stuff because it made me feel nauseous. She says it A LOT. I also felt that the plot lost it's way towards the end and turned into this huge conspiracy of people working together to liberate Flora from yet another uncomfortable situation. Ugh. I wish some of the issues this book covered were handled a little better, because in the end it creeped me out and not in a good way.

The One Memory of Flora Banks was a fab book that hooked me from the first few pages.
The story focuses around Flora who because if an accident can not retain any new memories, but all is not as it seems. Loved the twists throughout.

A great concept but unfortunately this one didn't work for me. I found it to be a little repetitive and it didn't really keep me engaged,
Not badly written, just not for me.

This was such an interesting and unique read but I felt like the romance let the story down a bit.

I thought The One Memory of Flora Banks was okay. I thought Flora was a great character, a human version of Dory from Finding Nemo. I think she is very well-written and comes across as sympathetic and completely believable. She has a great voice and I loved reading her story. Hats off to the author for great characterisation. Overall, I enjoyed the plot. I liked the way Flora’s amnesia was handled. This is well written and painfully real at times. However, I found certain elements too twee and this made the book fall a little. The only thing Flora remembers is kissing a boy. Oh, please, make me yak why don’t you? She could have remembered something more important, interesting and less predictable. I also didn’t fully buy the whole she goes to the Arctic in search of this boy she remembers kissing. I get why she did it but it seemed a ludicrous thing to do, though I did enjoy this setting. I also found the repetition tedious. I understand Flora had amnesia but this was established without needing to repeat so much. I got it the first twenty times thank you. I thought Flora’s friendship with Paige was great. Flora seems to think kissing Drake cured her which is impossible and stupid and irritated me. I also didn’t like the way Flora’s amnesia is represented as something unpleasant she needs to overcome and can be saved by true love. WTF? The One Memory of Flora Banks tackles amnesia but at times comes across as really insensitive. I really liked that Flora’s memory loss made her an unreliable narrator. Overall, this was a mix of good and bad things and I wouldn’t recommend it.

This was okay, I liked how things were unravelled and stuff and I also liked the ending but I don't think this book was for me I just couldn't get into it, and I didn't really like the characters much Flora and Paige were alright and her brother but other than that. Didn't really like it much.

I was really looking forward to this book, the blurb really sold me on it and I couldn't wait to read Flora's adventure. Unfortunately this book wasn't as good as I was hoping for.

Don't get me wrong it was an interesting read, the writing was very easy to follow and the concept of the protagonist having no short-term memory sounded brilliant, however there were a lot of things that for me worked against this book.

First off was Flora herself, maybe it's just me but I found it really difficult to feel much for her, there were points that I did feel sorry for her but I wasn't rooting for her at all. It's very hard to go into more detail on this without giving away too much of the plot, however I did wonder if it was maybe because of how young and childish she was. I know a lot of it was due to her condition but it did at points feel like it was aimed at a younger audience than YA.

The story itself took a few turns that I wasn't keen on and there were also some inaccuracies that could again just be my logic but for someone who immediately believes they are ten to be able to use a smartphone and wrangle an airport without thinking twice seemed really improbable.

I mean I am classed as a responsible adult (I may disagree with the prognosis but it doesn't change it) with no memory issues and I find airports hellish, stressful and leave me close to tantrums, so how she manages to without having a meltdown or someone noticing seems a bit ridiculous. Also for parents who are so protective their behaviour at a certain point in the book is absurd, I would love to rant a bit more about this but again it'll spoil it for anyone who wants to pick it up.

The next thing that got me was how repetitive it was, I know she has amnesia and of course the story was bound to be repetitive and for a part of the book I thought this was used well (there's a recurring jam jar that I particularly like). However, the more that Flora spoke about Drake the more annoyed I got. I realise that he is a catalyst for quite a momentous thing for her but it began to get on my nerves.

Also I know her determination to find Drake stems from a need to see if it will help her condition but I think it went a bit too strong on that and the message started to feel like "the boy will save me", which also started to put me off. Again I can't say too much about it so as not to spoil things but I really wish that brother had made more of an appearance, he could have made a very credible catalyst.

This was an entertaining read and maybe if I was younger it would work for me, I think there will be plenty of people who will like this book and it is definitely a concept I've not come across before. For me though it just fell shy of it's potential.