June's Chunky Book Club Selection: The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna

It’s June and we’re halfway through the year! I hope everyone’s having a great reading year. I know I am.  Now that summer is just around the corner, Wendy and I know the perfect book to take with you to the beach:

This month’s Chunky Book Club selection: The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna

From the back cover,

In contemporary Sierra Leone, a devastating civil war has left an entire populace with secrets to keep. In the capital hospital, a gifted young surgeon is plagued by demons that are beginning to threaten his livelihood. Elsewhere in the hospital lies a dying man who was young during the country’s turbulent postcolonial years and has stories to tell that are far from heroic. As past and present intersect in the buzzing city, these men are drawn unwittingly closer by a British psychologist with good intentions, and into the path of one woman at the center of their stories. A work of breathtaking writing and rare wisdom, The Memory of Love seamlessly weaves together two generations of African life to create a story of loss, absolution, and indelible effects of the past−and, in the end, the very nature of love.

The Memory of Love was first published in 2010 by Bloomsbury (U.K.) to rave reviews before being published in the U.S. last year by Grove Atlantic.  Since its publication, The Memory of Love has been nominated for the Warwick Prize (2011) and IMPAC Dublin Award (2012), shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction (2011), and won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book Overall (2011). It’s also an Essence Magazine Book Club pick. 

Of the book, The New York Times wrote: She (Forna) reminds us that what matters most is that which keeps us grounded in the place of our choosing.  And she writes to expose what remains after all the noise has faded: at the core of this novel is the brave and beating heart, at once vulnerable and determined, unwilling to let go of all it has ever loved.

I can’t wait to read this. The discussion post will go up on the ^14th of this month. Remember, you don’t have to be a participant of the Chunkster Challenge to join in the discussion. Plus, you can read The Memory of Love in any format. 

If that's not enough to convince you, here's a video of the author discussing the book. 

Happy reading.