The Memory Thief
Leonie Agnew
Penguin Books NZ
Pub. 2021

November 2, 2021

The Memory Thief is a magical book by Leonie Agnew about a girl named Stella and a troll, Seth.

This book is written from Seth’s perspective. The story begins at the garden where Seth has become trapped. Seth is on the wrong side of the gate and is stuck there but he doesn’t know how. Stella is looking for her cat and instead finds Seth. Seth accidentally steals memories from Stella and it hurts like something burning in his whole body. It’s only inside pain but this has never happened before. Why now?

Seth is a troll. He looks like a human and has a really really bad memory. He has a limited number of memories, most of them being stolen from humans. He becomes a statue when shown to the sun and loses what memories he has gathered. It’s a good idea for him not to touch iron because it’s like fire to his touch. Seth is trapped in the public garden, when it is day, he is posed as a statue but when it is night, the gates are locked. He can’t leave.

Stella is a human. She meets Seth while looking for her cat. She is really smart but stubborn and sometimes gets really really mad. Stella is brave and will not back down from danger or threats. She has some really bad memories that she wants gone from her memory and only Seth can do that. Taking memories from Stella hurts a lot for Seth, but Stella wants them gone and she’ll even blackmail him to make this happen. The two of them are friends and Seth will do whatever it takes to help her because there is someone in the garden who doesn’t like her.

Throughout the book, both Stella and Seth face challenges. Seth is trapped in the garden with no escape. Stella’s changing behaviour goes from having feelings to not caring. There’s someone threatening to get Stella. And more importantly, where’s Seth’s family? There are a few more challenges but I don’t wanna spoil the book for you.

The Memory Thief is written in a clear, easy to understand way but in that small story is packed such a great adventure in just the public garden. When I started reading, I just got pulled in by all the pictures. The few physical ones and the ones I conjured up in my imagination by reading the story.

If Leonie Agnew’s aim was to create a great, magical book then, by all means, she made it. This book pulled me into it and made me keep reading. I could easily visualise the house, garden, gates, trees, and people. The few illustrations were also really nice.

Finally, I’d like to recommend this book to young readers who are interested in going on the journey to find and catch the memory thief.

• Sana Sharma is 12 and lives in Hamilton.