Lou’s Review: Forget Me Not, by Alyson Derrick

I’ve seen a lot of criticism of Young Adult fiction lately, often from people far older than the target demographic for these books. And I wish that I could send everyone who dismisses the genre as trivial a copy of Forget Me Not, because it flies in the face of those misconceptions. Alyson Derrick’s solo debut has an emotionally compelling plot, complex thematic questions that will stay with readers long after the last page has been turned, and a gorgeous central love story highlighting the magic of what becomes possible when we are truly seen by the people around us.

Stevie and Nora keep their romance secret from everyone, terrified of the consequences attached to being lesbians in their ultra conservative small town. They’ve been saving every penny and planning an escape to California in the summer after graduation. But Stevie has a terrible fall, the amnesia wiping away every memory of the last two years – including her relationship with Nora. She doesn’t understand why her best friends barely know her, or the strange new distance with her parents. The only person who truly gets Stevie is the girl who saved her life – but the more time they spend together, the clearer it becomes that Nora’s keeping secrets too.

Forget Me Not has one hell of a premise – I was hooked from the very beginning, drawn in by the beauty of Stevie’s relationship with Nora, and I binged the rest of this book in the desperate hope they’d recover that lost connection. The stakes couldn’t be higher with this story. Though Stevie knew exactly who she was pre-accident, her friends and family treat this amnesia as the opportunity for a do-over, attempting to shape Stevie into a person that suits their intensely heterosexual agendas. And if she doesn’t remember, Stevie risks losing not only the love of a lifetime but the essence of who she truly is.

Parts of this story are agonising to read. And yet, thanks to Derrick’s tight pacing and silky smooth prose, Forget Me Not is impossible to put down. There’s a popular misbelief that craft must be sacrificed for the sake of accessibility, but Derrick’s turn of phrase is exquisite. With a few well-placed words she conveys the beauty of rural America as well as the claustrophobia; the child-like hope for better and adult weariness triggered by difficult family relationships; the pull of desire, and the emotional intimacy that come with a loving relationship. In both form and content, this novel is gorgeous.  

Stevie’s relationship with Nora is captivating. There are so many layers to it, past and present, all of them fascinating. Though they’re young women, the intensity of their bond and the deep loyalty they show one another makes this romance entirely believable. While Nora has known too little kindness in her life, she has an incredibly warm heart – coupled with her masculine charm, it’s easy to understand why Stevie adores her. And why the connection persists even after Stevie’s memory fades. These two women belong together – from the book’s beginning, I felt the truth of that in my bones.

I also loved Derrick’s depiction of what it means to be visibly different in a small town setting. Stevie is one of two Asian American kids in Wyatt, which contributes to her sense of isolation. Even to people who have known Stevie all her life, she is Other. Plus, the racism tolerated and expressed by her supposed friends ends up being more painful than abuse from strangers. Derrick is utterly on the money when it comes to the racialised dynamic within those relationships.

With the increasingly pluralistic representation found in YA fiction, critics complain that stories highlighting racism are “issues book” – as if white stories are politically neutral (no such thing), and there aren’t millions of kids around the world whose daily lives are affected by said issues. I can’t even begin to imagine what having a story like this would have meant to me as a teen. But I’m so glad that young people today might see themselves reflected in Forget Me Not, or gain fresh insight into experiences unlike their own. And I have cherished this book, even as an adult.

Though Stevie undeniably has more than her fair share of struggles, Forget Me Not is actually one of the most life-affirming stories I’ve read all year. It’s a magnificent, soaring romance story about what becomes possible when we are true to ourselves; the power of choosing to live authentically over the path of least resistance.