Book Review: 'Vanishing Acts'

Have you ever wondered how accurate your memories really are? Have you realised how dependent we are on our parents, and others, for our earliest memories? In recent years, we have come to realise just how unreliable memory can actually be. Jodi Picoult's latest offering, Vanishing Acts, centres around these questions. Delia Hopkins has been raised by her widowed father with an idyllic life in rural New Hampshire. She is now an adult, married, with a child. She works with her own search-and-rescue dog tracking down missing persons. Then, out of the blue, a policeman knocks at her door and her whole world is turned upside down leading her to question everything she believes is true. She has memories of her childhood - but how true are they? Who is she, really? And who, really, is her father - a well-known and respected member of the community? Vanishing Acts is classic Picoult and a great read weaving together great characters and an intriguing plot that deals with contemporary issues. Related Links

• False Memory (the Skeptic's Dictionary)
• Creating False Memories
• 'We can implant entirely false memories' (The Guardian)