Watson's impressive first novel is about creating narratives, and the relationship between narrative and memory. In the tradition of Borges and Philip K. Dick, but on a suburban level, with a touch of Groundhog Day and Memento thrown in for good measure, Watson's novel centers on Chrissie, a woman in her forties who believes her amnesia is the result of a car accident. Her amnesia means that each day she has to re-remember her life. On the advice of a psychiatrist, she begins to keep a journal. This allows her to gradually piece together her past, and realizes that her husband, Ben, is withholding various things from her. It makes her wonder if he really is a compassionate carer or someone out to manipulate her in some way. It's the structure of this novel, and its concentration on the trivial, that make it so nerve-jangling. No grand gesture or demonic prose here, just the daily grind of trying to piece together a personality, a past and a history.
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