? What if you could erase your most painful memories, and forget you ever did? That’s the premise of British author Jo Harkin’s 2022 sci-fi novel Tell Me an Ending. Nepenthe is a tech company that offers memory removal procedures. Some clients know they’ve had memories erased; others — “self-confidential” clients — choose to forget the procedure entirely. But when research reveals that deleted memories may not stay that way, Nepenthe is forced to offer restorations.

Suddenly, people who had no idea they’d undergone the procedure are faced with a choice: recover what they buried or leave it alone. The novel follows a handful of former clients grappling with that decision, alongside Noor, a psychologist at Nepenthe's London clinic who grows suspicious of her employer. From Arizona to Kuala Lumpur to Marrakech, their stories intersect in unexpected ways, raising uncomfortable questions about identity, trauma, and the stories we tell ourselves to get by.

At around 450 pages, Tell Me an Ending is a longer read, but the prose is straightforward and dialogue-heavy, so it moves quickly. The structure — jumping between characters and timelines — can feel fragmented at times, and some threads wrap up more satisfyingly than others. But the premise is sharp, and Harkin handles the ethical messiness of her world with care. Don’t let the 3.6 Goodreads rating throw you off — this book will linger in your psyche.

WHERE TO GET IT- You can find the eBook on Amazon, and the audiobook on Audible. You can also place a special order for the paperback version from The Bookspot.

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