{"id":2,"date":"2008-11-05T10:48:49","date_gmt":"2008-11-05T15:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kimneville.com\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2026-02-07T14:51:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T22:51:31","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.kimneville.com\/","title":{"rendered":"The Memory Collectors – available now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\u201cLike the magical objects collected by its protagonists, this novel is emotionally transformative.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Kirkus Reviews<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

An atmospheric and enchanting debut novel about two women haunted by buried secrets but bound by a shared gift and the power the past holds over our lives.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe Memory Collectors<\/em> is a remarkable piece of magical realism, imaginative and vivid in its specificity. Seemingly trivial items offer enormous symbolic opportunities. Tender, electric, this story and its vibrant characters will stay with readers long after the pages have closed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Shelf Awareness (starred review)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BUY THE BOOK<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About The Memory Collectors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ev has a mysterious ability, one that she feels is more a curse than a gift. She can feel the emotions people leave behind on objects and believes that most of them need to be handled extremely carefully, and\u2014if at all possible\u2014destroyed. The harmless ones she sells at Vancouver\u2019s Chinatown Night Market to scrape together a living, but even that fills her with trepidation. Meanwhile, in another part of town, Harriet hoards thousands of these treasures and is starting to make her neighbors sick as the overabundance of heightened emotions start seeping through her apartment walls.

When the two women meet, Harriet knows that Ev is the only person who can help her make something truly spectacular of her collection. A museum of memory that not only feels warm and inviting but can heal the emotional wounds many people unknowingly carry around. They only know of one other person like them, and they fear the dark effects these objects had on him. Together, they help each other to develop and control their gift, so that what happened to him never happens again. But unbeknownst to them, the same darkness is wrapping itself around another, dragging them down a path that already destroyed Ev\u2019s family once, and threatens to annihilate what little she has left.

The Memory Collectors<\/i> casts the everyday in a new light, speaking volumes to the hold that our past has over us\u2014contained, at times, in seemingly innocuous objects\u2014and uncovering a truth that both women have tried hard to bury with their pasts: not all magpies collect shiny things\u2014sometimes they gather darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the Author<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n

Kim Neville is the Vancouver-based author of THE MEMORY COLLECTORS, published by Atria Books. Kim\u2019s short fiction has appeared in Imaginarium 3: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing, Shimmer<\/em> and On Spec.<\/em> She attended the Clarion West Writers Workshop in 2012. Her creative interests include everyday magic, ghosts, in-between spaces, family and relationship dynamics, the meaning of home and finding that which has been lost. Most of her stories take place in real-world settings with a twist of strangeness to cast the everyday in a new light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kim\u2019s current work in progress is a haunted house story with musical themes and a large dose of perimenopausal rage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Representation: Melanie Figueroa and Taylor Haggerty at Root Literary<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact: kaneville[at]gmail.com<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

More Praise for The Memory Collectors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u201cIn her debut novel, author Kim Neville delivers a unique and intriguing mystery in The Memory Collectors<\/em>. Readers discover that what most see as trash, a few see as treasure. Objects, like people, have a history and can be cherished, bringing people joy or sorrow, full of darkness and light.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Booklist<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cNeville debuts with a tense meditation on trauma, family, and inheritance . . . Fans of introspective fabulism will love the concept.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Publishers Weekly<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201c[T]he ability to feel these emotions at such a deep level serves as allegories of holding on to the past and using nostalgia as a crutch. It creates a narrative that is tinged with bittersweet yearning, and a hopefulness for the future as a means of freedom\u2014beautifully written, with a magical realism that masterfully embodies everything that makes the genre so memorable.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Mary Sue<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cAn incredibly moving tale, and impressive debut. Neville writes with skill, grace, and emotion, which portends to a successful career. Readers who are looking for suspense with a little bit of magic, mixed in with raw emotion and heartbreak, will find what they seek in The Memory Collectors.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Mystery and Suspense<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cIn The Memory Collectors<\/em>, Neville creates a richly imagined world that seamlessly merges the magical with the everyday. Her characters will feel very real to anyone who has sensed the haunting power in objects and places that awaken deep emotions from their past. This inventive debut is a hopeful tale about the possibility of recovery after childhood trauma, and about learning how to trust and forgive\u2014especially oneself. I guarantee you will never feel the same about that box of keepsakes stored in your attic after you read this book.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Glendy Vanderah, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of <\/em>Where the Forest Meets the Stars<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cAn old, horrifying crime; objects imprinted with emotions; two women hiding from their dark pasts\u2014The Memory Collectors<\/em> is thought-provoking and suspenseful, full of haunting secrets, twists, and turns. Kim Neville\u2019s beautifully-written debut lays bare the immense power of memories and how they can both hurt us . . . and heal us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Heather Webber, USA Today bestselling author of <\/em>Midnight at the Blackbird Caf\u00e9 and <\/em>South of the Buttonwood Tree<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cIn this atmospheric and beautifully written novel, Neville weaves for us a world in which ordinary objects retain the imprint of strong emotions and influence the moods and actions of the people they touch. By turns heartbreaking, terrifying, and beautiful, The Memory Collectors<\/em> is ultimately a triumphant tale of redemption and forgiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Kerry Anne King, bestselling author of <\/em>Everything You Are and <\/em>Whisper Me This<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cAn unforgettable parable about empathy, memory, and healing that builds to a heart-pulsing crescendo. Not only is The Memory Collectors<\/em> an exquisite exploration of the ways family secrets bind us to the past, it\u2019s also one of the most magical novels I\u2019ve read in a long time. An extraordinary debut.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Kris Waldherr, author of <\/em>The Lost History of Dreams<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cAt its best, which is pretty much all the time, Kim Neville\u2019s mesmerizing The Memory Collectors<\/em> reminds me of the great M.J. Rose at her best. But Neville corners the market when it comes to gothic eeriness and a Stephen King-like sense of unease . . . an elegant and beautifully crafted tale.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Providence Journal<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cLike the magical objects collected by its protagonists, this novel is emotionally transformative.\u201d Kirkus Reviews An atmospheric and enchanting debut novel about two women haunted by buried secrets but bound by a shared gift and the power the past holds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kimneville.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kimneville.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kimneville.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kimneville.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kimneville.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":130,"href":"http:\/\/www.kimneville.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3435,"href":"http:\/\/www.kimneville.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions\/3435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kimneville.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}