You Must Remember This by Sean Wilson

A haunting and beautifully observed story of memory, ageing, and identity, where the lines between past and present are blurred.

SHORTLISTED, THE AGE BOOK OF THE YEAR FICTION AWARD 2026
LONGLISTED, MILES FRANKLIN LITERARY AWARD 2026

‘A tender portrait of old age and the slippages of memory.’ AMANDA LOHREY

‘Lyrical and beautifully conceived. A sensitive and heartbreaking insight into the devastating impact of dementia on the sufferers and those who care for them.’ MICHAEL BRISSENDEN

Grace can’t settle. She can’t shake the feeling that someone is missing.

You Must Remember This is an eloquent jumble of a family story, as experienced by Grace, an elderly woman with dementia trying to get her moorings in a worsening storm. It contemplates the perils of remembering and forgetting, making your own way in the world and how we seem bound to repeat the patterns of the past. Most profoundly it’s about sensing what it’s like to live on while your faculties dim, and about finding peace.

‘An insightful and deeply compassionate story’. – Good Reading

‘It is one of the most powerful novels I have read in years’. – The WeekendAustralian

‘Wilson’s writing is lucid and often extremely beautiful in its precision … The real achievement of Wilson’s novel is its desire to give shape to the experience of dementia, and what it must be like to try to hold on to one’s sense of self as it slips away’. – The Saturday Paper

‘This book is a valuable, eye-opening contribution to the literature of dementia’. – The Guardian

‘While Wilson is unflinching on dementia’s daily realities, this is a balanced, philosophical portrayal, sensitively handled’. – The Age/The Sydney Morning Herald

‘Poetic and thought-provoking.’- The Australian Women’s Weekly

A profoundly beautiful literary novella about memory told from the perspective of an elderly woman with dementia, perfect for fans of Claire Keegan.

About the Author: Sean Wilson is a writer from Perth, Western Australia. His short stories have been published in Australian and international journals, anthologies and literary magazines including Island and Narrative, and he was previously shortlisted for the Patrick White Playwrights Award by Sydney Theatre Company. He now lives in Melbourne. His debut novel, Gemini Falls, was published in 2022. This is his second book.

28 Jan 2025
 

You Must Remember This by Sean Wilson ISBN 9781922419231