The Book of Memory: A Novel

An albino Zimbabwe woman recounts how she came to be on death row in this “sly, smart” debut novel (Elle).

“A fiercely vivid novel. . . . [A] beautiful, gliding dance of language.” —Los Angeles Times

The story that you have asked me to tell you does not begin with the pitiful ugliness of Lloyd’s death. It begins on a long-ago day in August when the sun seared my blistered face and I was nine years old and my father and mother sold me to a strange man.

An albino woman named Memory is languishing in a maximum-security prison in Harare, Zimbabwe, where she has been tried and convicted of murder. As part of her appeal, her lawyer insists that she write down what happened: that is, the events that led to the killing of her adoptive father, Lloyd Hendricks. But who was Llyod Hendricks? Why does Memory feel no remorse for his death? And did everything happen exactly as she remembers?

Moving between the townships of the poor and the suburbs of the rich, and between past and present, the 2009 Guardian First Book Award–winning writer Petina Gappah weaves a compelling tale of love, obsession, the relentlessness of fate, and the treachery of memory.

“Crisply written, wryly humorous, The Book of Memory attests to [Gappah’s] astonishing talent.” ―Minneapolis Star Tribune

“For a novel saturated with death, The Book of Memory is most emphatically alive. . . . [Petina Gappah’s] language dazzles. . . . [She is] a writer to take to the heart as well as the head.” ―Financial Times

“Gappah crafts ample suspense. . . . The narrative works as a cautionary tale of how superstition and prejudice can shape one’s destiny. The result is a beguiling mystery.” ―Publishers Weekly

© 2025 Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Ebook): 9780374714888

Release date

Ebook: 14 March 2025