Over time, the little ‘cave floating in the sky’ which houses R becomes full of more and more objects that are ‘disappeared’. Together, the writer and the old man hide him away in the house to keep him safe, and report back what has disappeared, as the regularity increases. Over time, he becomes at risk of being captured by the Memory Police who seek to destroy evidence of disappeared objects, and those who remember their existence. He is one of the small few (cursed, depending on how you see it) to continue to feel the loss of all these items.

The island community have accepted their sad and increasingly difficult reality, and the presence of the Memory Police. If there is a time when this status quo was challenged, we have passed it by the time the novel begins. Former hat-makers, ferrymen and boat mechanics have been displaced into other professions, as hats and ferries no longer exist.” “The first duty of the Memory Police to enforce the disappearance.” The bird observatory is already in ruins, since the birds flew away never to return. The word “rose” will dissolve from memory the Memory Police will do a thorough search for all images and writings about roses and remove them.

Days later, the rose gardens will be gone and no one will remember what existed on that piece of land. Some observe small ceremonies to mark the departure. They throw them into the river or incinerate them at communal fires. “The breeze seemed to discriminate, choosing only the rose petals to scatter.” Without need of instruction, the islanders, “quiet, dazed”, dig up their rose bushes. This review from the Guardian puts it much better than I can: “When morning arrives they find that red petals are inundating the river. Some mornings, the island community wakes up to the sense that something new has ‘disappeared’. All memories, experiences – all recognition. The key to understanding this novel fully (which took me a while) is to fully accept the idea of an object as not just its physical form or name, but everything associated with it. She becomes close with a family friend, known only as ‘old man’ (my favorite character) who offers her real friendship and kinship. She is unnamed even to us, working on a novel with her editor, R. Our young protagonist has lost both of her parents. And on top of that, written in such a Kafka-like dream state that it leaves you, as the reader, feel totally untethered to the ground.

The Memory Police is one of those rare masterpieces – tackling a massive concept and philosophising on multiple important issues while not sacrificing the humanity of its characters.

Frozen summer by mary jane auch