You Must Remember This

A Knives Out-style whodunnit with a twist of Taylor Jenkins Reid, You Must Remember This is an immersive Gothic mystery, with a long-ago love affair, icy death, and a rich family gone bad, from Kat Rosenfield, the acclaimed author of No One Will Miss Her.

On Christmas Eve, eighty-five-year-old Miriam Caravasios steps onto the ice that surrounds her seaside estate on Maine's Mount Desert Island. As a younger woman, she used to steal out on winter nights to meet her lover, walking across the frozen reach to their secret meeting place. She knows the way—but not the year. Miriam, her mind clouded by dementia, doesn’t hear the snap of thin ice until it’s too late.

Was it an accident? Suicide? Or worse: did someone lure the old woman onto the frozen reach, to her death?

There are plenty of suspects; Miriam’s fractured and complicated family has gathered in their Bar Harbor mansion to celebrate what everyone believed would likely be the matriarch’s last Christmas. The guests include Delphine, Miriam’s granddaughter, a frightened and insecure young woman who adored her grandmother, and Miriam’s live-in aide, Adam, whom Delphine has been secretly dating.  There is Miriam's former housekeeper, Shelly Dyer, who left the family's employment years ago under mysterious circumstances. There are Miriam’s children: Theodora, who gave up everything to assume the role of caretaker; Diana, who seems just a little too eager to inherit her share of the estate; and Richard, whose longtime grudge against his mother has curdled into gleeful contempt at her deterioration. 

But it’s Delphine who comes in for the greatest scrutiny when they learn the shocking news that Miriam’s will cut off her children, leaving her granddaughter almost everything.

As tensions rise, Delphine is emboldened to start asking questions: not just about her grandmother's death, but about her life, and the love story that defined it as the rest of her memories faded. The trail will take her into the past, into dark places — and eventually, onto thin ice.

Kat Rosenfield partnered with the late, great Stan Lee to co-author the NYT-bestselling A Trick of Light, and also wrote two acclaimed YA titles– the Edgar-Nominated Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone and Inland. Her work as a pop culture writer has appeared in Wired, Vulture, Entertainment Weekly, Playboy, US Weekly, and TV Guide. She is a former reporter for MTV News.

“[An] ultimately satisfying gothic thriller…A subtle sliver of menace runs through the narrative…This thoughtful look at the nature of memories will resonate with many readers.”  — Publishers Weekly on You Must Remember This

“A thrilling dual timeline family drama told with a modern gothic flare…dark and brooding…with plenty of twists and turns.” — Fresh Fiction on You Must Remember This

“Rosenfield’s book has a Gothic yet soapy quality I really like…It’s Succession with a Rebecca vibe.” — Crime Reads on You Must Remember This

“Centering on a rich family fighting over an inheritance, fans of the Knives Out franchise will enjoy Kat Rosenfield’s clever mystery.” — PopSugar on You Must Remember This

 “Both amusingly satirical and darkly bloody.” — Washington Post on No One Will Miss Her

“Countless thrillers have patterned themselves on Gone Girl in the decade since Gillian Flynn transfixed readers and transformed the literary landscape; rare is the suspense novel that summons the same dark magic even as it twists itself into a bold new shape. No One Will Miss Her is just such a book: blade-sharp, whip-smart, and genuinely original—a thriller to refresh your faith in the genre, your belief that a story can still outpace and outsmart you." — A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

“Deserves two big thumbs up. Readers will be gripped by this Byzantine and astonishing story in which one gasp-inducing twist follows on the heels of another. A unique page-turner that just begs to be turned into a movie.” — Booklist (starred review) on No One Will Miss Her

"A clever and surprising psychological thriller...The superb character-driven plot delivers an astonishing, believable jolt." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on No One Will Miss Her

"A story that will completely throw you for a loop just when you think you know what’s going on, No One Will Miss Her is an expertly written book with characters you’ll find so interesting and a plot that is equally intriguing." — Seattle Book Review

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