The Memory Keeper

by Laura Nadworny

The Memory Keeper is a fictional memoir, a layering of story, of forgotten memories remembered, of new memories created. Retold by Jesse Abraham, it is the passages in the life of this contemporary New York City-born artist "outsider;" it is her journey to identity through the minefield of lost story. Descended from Eastern European shtetl Jews who arrived in America believing that the future, and not the past, was what one provides one's children, she is disconnected from her roots culturally as well as religiously! And she is, throughout this book, divining works of art inside her mind to counter those brick walls she seems forever to be smashing in to.... While it appears at times that macho Native American trickster Coyote has anointed himself her spiritual guide, mentoring this journey back to herself, it is Jesse's own insatiable curiosity to solve the mystery of a 15th century crucifix, her stumbling into the five hundred year old secrets of a New Mexican Hispanic community, and her connection to the son of relocated New Mexican Pueblo Indians which transforms The Memory Keeper and its rhythms from spiritual journey into adventure. The Memory Keeper is a love story.

201 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1999