Practicing psychiatrist, Veronica O'Keane, has spent many years observing what happens when the memory process is disrupted by mental illness how our recall of and access of memory determines how we function in the world. Memories have the power to move us, often when we least expect it, a sign of the complex neural process that continues in the background of our everyday lives. A process that shapes us- filtering the world around us, informing our behaviour and feeding our imagination. Drawing on poignant case studies and enriched with exploration of literature and fairy tales, O'keane uses the latest neuroscientific research to illuminate the role of psychiatry today and the extraordinary puzzle that is our human brain.

'If you had your time over, would you fall in love with the same person? Would you live the same life twice?' After a car accident, Gracie loses all the memories that define her and is forced to examine the person she has become. Addictive and heartfelt reading from a new Australian voice. Dear Gracie, Here are some things you should know: The yellow toothbrush is mine. You sleep with your socks on. You set your alarm for 5:45 am every morning and then you go for a run. You and I were the closest thing to perfect I ever knew in my life. Love, Blake After an accident leaves Gracie with severe amnesia, she's forced to decide: live a life that is made up of other people's memories of who she was, or start a new life on her own. Leaving her fiancé Blake behind, she moves to the country where she takes on the task of reviving her late mother's abandoned flower farm. While attempting to restart a business with an uncertain future, she tries to decide whether to let Blake back into her life now that he's a stranger. What she doesn't count on is developing a deep connection with Flynn, a local vet who is her neighbour. Forced to examine the person she has become, Gracie confronts the question: if you had your time over, would you live the same life twice?

‘A beautifully written, incredibly evocative tale. The Memories of Us will remind you that love never fails and that there's real power in chasing your dreams. I loved this uniquely vivid story, and you will too’ Kelly Rimmer, author of Before I Let You Go One moment can change your life

How popular films from Memento to Slumdog Millionaire can help us understand how memory works. In the movie Slumdog Millionaire, the childhood memories of a young game show contestant trigger his correct answers. In Memento, the amnesiac hero uses tattoos as memory aids. In Away from Her, an older woman suffering from dementia no longer remembers who her husband is. These are compelling films that tell affecting stories about the human condition. But what can these movies teach us about memory? In this book, John Seamon shows how examining the treatment of memory in popular movies can shed new light on how human memory works. After explaining that memory is actually a diverse collection of independent systems, Seamon uses examples from movies to offer an accessible, nontechnical description of what science knows about memory function and dysfunction. In a series of lively encounters with numerous popular films, he draws on Life of Pi and Avatar, for example, to explain working memory, used for short-term retention. He describes the process of long-term memory with examples from such films as Cast Away and Groundhog Day; The Return of Martin Guerre, among other movies, informs his account of how we recognize people; the effect of emotion on autobiographical memory is illustrated by The Kite Runner, Titanic, and other films; movies including Born on the Fourth of July and Rachel Getting Married illustrate the complex pain of traumatic memories. Seamon shows us that movies rarely get amnesia right, often using strategically timed blows to the protagonist's head as a way to turn memory off and then on again (as in Desperately Seeking Susan). Finally, he uses movies including On Golden Pond and Amour to describe the memory loss that often accompanies aging, while highlighting effective ways to maintain memory function.

In England, newly pregnant seventeen-year-old Hattie and her gin-drinking great-aunt Gloria, who's in the early stages of dementia, set out together on a road trip of self-discovery--Gloria to finally confront the secrets of her past before they're wiped from her memory forever and Hattie to face the hard choices that will determine her future.

How do our brains store—and then conjure up—past experiences to make us who we are? A twinge of sadness, a rush of love, a knot of loss, a whiff of regret. Memories have the power to move us, often when we least expect it, a sign of the complex neural process that continues in the background of our everyday lives. This process shapes us: filtering the world around us, informing our behavior and feeding our imagination. Psychiatrist Veronica O’Keane has spent many years observing how memory and experience are interwoven. In this rich, fascinating exploration, she asks, among other things: Why can memories feel so real? How are our sensations and perceptions connected with them? Why is place so important in memory? Are there such things as “true” and “false” memories? And, above all, what happens when the process of memory is disrupted by mental illness? O’Keane uses the broken memories of psychosis to illuminate the integrated human brain, offering a new way of thinking about our own personal experiences. Drawing on poignant accounts that include her own experiences, as well as what we can learn from insights in literature and fairytales and the latest neuroscientific research, O’Keane reframes our understanding of the extraordinary puzzle that is the human brain and how it changes during its growth from birth to adolescence and old age. By elucidating this process, she exposes the way that the formation of memory in the brain is vital to the creation of our sense of self.