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The Library of Traumatic Memory
- Author
- Neil Jordan
- Narrator
- Stephen Rea
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 12 March 2026
- Run Time
- 8 hours 56 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Science fiction
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What to expect
The first literary science fiction novel from Neil Jordan, visionary director of The Company of Wolves and Interview with the Vampire
In a windswept corner of a forgotten peninsula, love and loss echo through the halls of a mansion built on secrets. Here memory is currency of the future, and the past refuses to stay buried.
In the year 2084, Christian Cartwright, a quiet librarian at the enigmatic Huxley Institute, spends his days archiving the world’s most painful memories in the Library of Traumatic Memory.
But when his lover Isolde dies in a mysterious car crash, Christian secretly resurrects her as a digital consciousness — an act of grief, obsession, and defiance.
As Christian navigates a world where memories can be edited, dreams harvested, and the dead made to speak, he uncovers a deeper conspiracy buried in the Institute’s foundations — one that stretches back centuries to his 18th-century ancestor Montagu Cartwright, the architect of the Huxley Mansion.
Montagu’s obsidian mirror and copper model may hold the key to a reality where architecture shapes fate and time loops back on itself.
Blending gothic mystery, speculative science, and philosophical depth, The Library of Traumatic Memory is a haunting meditation on love, loss, and the ethics of memory.
As the past and future collide, Christian must decide what it means to remember — and what it costs to forget.
Critics Review
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Lyrically written, brimming with ideas, sometimes sinister and often humorous, it's an enchanting read
The Guardian
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Not the work of a literary author merely holidaying in the speculative, as sometimes happens, but, by contrast, that of a writer who understands genre and has chosen an appropriate palette for a specific set of contemporary anxieties
Irish Times
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In Alan Garner territory: an intense and complex story where the keening echoes of the past resonate down the centuries
Daily Mail
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Let's be clear: this is a remarkable science fiction book. It's a book you immediately want to read again when you've finished it, because it's clear a second pass will reveal hitherto unnoticed details, ideas and resonances
SFX
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Heartbreaking and hilarious... Angela Carter meets de Selby meets James Stephens meets Bram Stoker meets Alice coming back through the mirror
Paula Meehan, for RTE
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As head-scratching as all this is, Jordan’s creative talents allow him to entertainingly carry it off and pose some interesting questions along that way
Sunday Independent (Ireland)
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A smart book but it wears that intelligence very lightly, always aiming for the reader's heart as much as the head
The Big Issue
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Jordan is as fearless an author as he’s visionary in the director’s chair, and this feels like a future cult classic
Vale 50 Plus
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Neil Jordan
- Narrator
- Stephen Rea
- Duration
- 8 hours 56 minutes
- Release Date
- 12 March 2026
- ISBN
- 9781035923311
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre
- Science fiction
Synopsis
Bloomsbury presents The Library of Traumatic Memory by Neil Jordan, read by Stephen Rea.The first literary science fiction novel from Neil Jordan, visionary director of The Company of Wolves and Interview with the VampireIn a windswept corner of a forgotten peninsula, love and loss echo through the halls of a mansion built on secrets. Here memory is currency of the future, and the past refuses to stay buried.In the year 2084, Christian Cartwright, a quiet librarian at the enigmatic Huxley Institute, spends his days archiving the world’s most painful memories in the Library of Traumatic Memory. But when his lover Isolde dies in a mysterious car crash, Christian secretly resurrects her as a digital consciousness — an act of grief, obsession, and defiance.As Christian navigates a world where memories can be edited, dreams harvested, and the dead made to speak, he uncovers a deeper conspiracy buried in the Institute’s foundations — one that stretches back centuries to his 18th-century ancestor Montagu Cartwright, the architect of the Huxley Mansion.Montagu’s obsidian mirror and copper model may hold the key to a reality where architecture shapes fate and time loops back on itself.Blending gothic mystery, speculative science, and philosophical depth, The Library of Traumatic Memory is a haunting meditation on love, loss, and the ethics of memory. As the past and future collide, Christian must decide what it means to remember — and what it costs to forget.
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