The Memory Trap

Nina Jameson, an international consultant on memorial projects, has been happily married to Daniel for twelve years. When her life in London falls apart, she accepts a job in her hometown of Melbourne. There she joins her sister, Zoe, embroiled in her own problems with Elliot, an American biographer of literary women. And she finds herself caught up in age-old conflicts of two friends from her past: the celebrated pianist Ramsay Blake and his younger brother, Sean.

All these people have been treading memory's thin ice for far too long. Nina arrives home to find work, loves and entrenched obsessions under threat.

A rich and compelling story of marriage, music, the illusions of love and the deceits of memory, THE MEMORY TRAP's characters are real, flawed and touchingly human.

Read Caroline Baum's Review:

Ho hum, I thought. Another book about marital infidelity and a middle aged woman coming to terms with betrayal and loneliness. But this is more than that. Goldsmith has given Nora, her main character, a really interesting professional life creating monuments for groups that wish to commemorate an event. The nature of her work causes her to reflect on collective memory while trying to address the markers in her own path that determined the course and choices of her own life. At the same time, her rather unpleasant brother-in-law, Eliot, is finishing off his latest biography in a series of what he calls his Big Ladies, and is facing the turmoil in his own sterile marriage. Yes, it's middle class and polite, a little slow to gather momentum and perhaps a little earnest in the telling, but readers who like writing that puts marriage under the microscope may enjoy what is growing in this petri dish.

About the Author

Andrea originally trained as a speech pathologist and was a pioneer in the development of communication aids for people unable to speak. Her first novel, Gracious Living, was published in 1989. This was followed by Modern Interiors, then Facing the Music, Under the Knife and The Prosperous Thief, which was shortlisted for the 2003 Miles Franklin Award. In 2009 she published Reunion.