Emmi Itäranta

The award-winning speculative debut novel, now in English for the first time! In the far north of the Scandinavian Union, now occupied by the power state of New Qian, seventeen-year-old Noria Kaitio studies to become a tea master like her father. It is a position that holds great responsibility and a dangerous secret. Tea masters alone know the location of hidden water sources, including the natural spring that once provided water for her whole village. When Noria's father dies, the secret of the spring reaches the new military commander . . . and the power of the army is vast indeed. But the precious water reserve is not the only forbidden knowledge Noria possesses, and resistance is a fine line. Threatened with imprisonment, and with her life at stake, Noria must make an excruciating, dangerous choice between knowledge and freedom.

A Novel

Memory of Water

An amazing, award-winning speculative fiction debut novel by a major new talent, in the vein of Ursula K. Le Guin. Global warming has changed the world’s geography and its politics. Wars are waged over water, and China rules Europe, including the Scandinavian Union, which is occupied by the power state of New Qian. In this far north place, seventeen-year-old Noria Kaitio is learning to become a tea master like her father, a position that holds great responsibility and great secrets. Tea masters alone know the location of hidden water sources, including the natural spring that Noria’s father tends, which once provided water for her whole village. But secrets do not stay hidden forever, and after her father’s death the army starts watching their town—and Noria. And as water becomes even scarcer, Noria must choose between safety and striking out, between knowledge and kinship. Imaginative and engaging, lyrical and poignant, Memory of Water is an indelible novel that portrays a future that is all too possible.

Janice Hopper

What a lovely, extraordinary book this is.

Noria Kaitio is the daughter of a master of the tea ceremony. She lives in a world where the climate is drastically different from what it is now. Water is scarce. The oceans are much higher, and the coastlines have changed. The world is much warmer, even in the northern region where Noria lives. Water is severely rationed. You can be arrested for water crimes, and executed for them. 

Noria and her father are also guardians of a spring whose secret location has been passed down from tea ceremony master to master over many generations. It's a gift, and a burden to them.

The book is beautifully written, with a gentle, elegaic tone through much of it. Like this quote:

“Most of the soil we walk on once grew and breathed, and once it had the shape of the living, long ago. One day someone who doesn’t remember us will walk on our skin and flesh and bones, on the dust that remains of us.” 

Water flows through this book, symbolically and literally. Loss is everywhere. Everyone is aware of how much has been lost, and how much more could still be lost.

It's sweet and sad and melancholic, and I'll think about it for a long time.

I can thank The Writer and the Critic podcast for bringing another author to my attention! Thanks, Ian and Kirstyn!

With the lyricism of Ishiguro's 'Never Let Me Go', and the world building brilliance of Atwood, Emmi Itaranta's effortless and poignant debut novel is a coming of age story full of emotional drama and wonderment."

Simona Andrijauskiene

*I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review*

I liked this book because of a unique idea. It was beautifully written and enjoyable to read.
However for those who likes action it migth be too slow even boring. And, at least for me, the ending was to open, a lot of questions left in the air unsanwered .

Memory of Water A Novel

Reviews