A 1994 science fiction novel by Yoko Ogawa, translated from Japanese to English by Stephen Snyder in 2019.
The protagonist is a novelist on a dystopian island run by the Memory Police. Over time, the inhabitants are collectively made to forget their attachment to things like perfume, birds, and hats. The Memory Police enforces the appearance of said objects and captures those who retain their memories.
The old man and the protagonist hide R, her editor who still remembers the disappeared things, in a secret room in her home. The protagonist continues her novel, working with R in secret. Things continue to disappear over time.
The book provides examples of the following tropes:
- Crapsack World: Inhabitants on the island are forcibly made to forget the things around them.
- The Dictatorship: The Memory Police, which rules the island with an iron fist.
- Endless Winter: The island continues to experience snow with spring never arriving, and eventually people start struggling for food.
- He Knows Too Much: Those who still retain memories of disappeared objects are made to disappear.
- Nice Girl: The protagonist, who is an ordinary author on the island. She goes out of her way to hide R and when the old man is temporarily held by the Memory Police, attempts to bring him a package.
- Secret Police: The Memory Police.
- Secret Room: The room in the protagonist’s home, which hides R from the Memory Police’s raids.
- The Speechless: The main character of the protagonist’s novel who has no voice.
- Un-person: What happens to those captured. Eventually the island’s inhabitants are collectively made to forget their own existence.