The Memory Chair book cover

The Memory Chair

Thirteen-year-old Betony has always hated going to her cranky great-grandmother’s house. It’s old and stuffy and boring and the woodstove in the kitchen is always burning too hot. But her Gram doesn’t have any other family living close by on the Kingston Peninsula, so Betony ends up being dragged along all the time.

She’d rather be pretty much anywhere…until one day Betony sits on her Gram’s favourite chair. She is suddenly transported into the past, and is experiencing her Gram’s life as if it were in her own memory. At first Betony is excited and curious, and begins to develop a close relationship with Gram, even learning to cook and quilt. But after she has experienced a few more of her great-grandmother’s memories, she  realizes she is slowly uncovering a terrible, shameful family secret.

Who doesn’t have stories that are rooted with special memories of Grandma? The Memory Chair was one of those stories where your love of the book grew more as the book continued. A quick but fulfilling read left such a warm spot in the heart because it brought back so many memories that I’ve shared with my own grandma. Not only was it a nice story but a refreshing one for the young reader to learn and appreciate how precious life is with your family and the memories that bind them for generations.

Michelle Bowles