Debbie Harpham
ABOUT THE MEMORY OF US:
Julianne Westcott was living the kind of life that other Protestant girls in prewar Liverpool could only dream about: old money, silk ball gowns, and prominent young men lining up to escort her. But when she learns of a blind-and-deaf brother, institutionalized since birth, the illusion of her perfect life and family shatters around her.
While visiting her brother in secret, Julianne meets and befriends Kyle McCarthy, an Irish Catholic groundskeeper studying to become a priest. Caught between her family’s expectations, Kyle’s devotion to the Church, and the intense new feelings that the forbidden courtship has awakened in her, Julianne must make a choice: uphold the life she’s always known or follow the difficult path toward love.
But as war ripples through the world and the Blitz decimates England, a tragic accident forces Julianne to leave everything behind and forge a new life built on lies she’s told to protect the ones she loves. Now, after twenty years of hiding from her past, the truth finds her—will she be brave enough to face it?
Inspired by the Beatles song, Eleanor Rigby, Camille shares, “I have always loved it, and began to ponder their lives – the lonely old woman, the lonely old priest. What if they knew each other? What if they had a history? I wrote their story as I imagined it.”
The Memory of Us is an Amazon bestseller, and a finalist for the Holt Medallion Award for Literary Excellence
PRAISE FOR THE MEMORY OF US:
Liz & Lisa Best Book of the Month Selection
Named a Summer Book Pick by Redbook, Working Mother, SheKnows, and Bustle.
“This lovely story, with its aura of sadness, may remind some readers of Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds. Di Maio plays on readers’ heartstrings like a virtuoso, drawing many tears and deep sighs as her story moves from happiness to tragedy and back again. Not only can Di Maio pull readers into the story with her straightforward prose and time-hopping narrative, but she keeps them turning the pages to watch her appealing characters find their true paths. This is a story that lingers long after the satisfying end.” RT Book Reviews
AUTHOR VISITS:
Book clubs, schedule your author visit with Camille via NovelNetwork!