I’m so fortunate to be surrounded by such a fantastic bunch of supportive GTA gal-pal authors, including Sam Bailey (thanks for your plot input!), Karma Brown, Amy Dixon, Molly Fader, Jennifer Hillier, Natalie Jenner, Lydia Laceby, Jennifer Robson, Marissa Stapley and K.A. Tucker. Love, hugs and thank-yous all round. Huge hugs to Sonica, too—thank you for everything, dear friend.
Farther afield, the immensely talented Mary Kubica and Kimberly Belle were the first to accept to blurb a book for me, an unknown British/Swiss/Canadian combo. Not only that, but they also introduced me to so many other writers, it’s become near impossible to name you all without doubling the length of this book. Please know I appreciate every single one of you. Your friendship, help, knowledge, ongoing encouragement, sweet messages of support and strict kicks up the backside whenever I’m throwing a wobbly...you really are the best, and you make the writing community better than I could have ever imagined.
To Wendy Heard—thank you for the early input on the plot for this novel! To Hank Phillippi Ryan, my First Chapter Fun partner in crime, and to Candice Sawchuk—thank you for reading a late version of the manuscript and helping me shape it further. You’re amazing!
To my lovely mum, who I miss so very much, and my brilliant dad, my amazing sister Joely, and Simon, Michael and Oli, lots o’ love to you all. I wish we could be together more often. To my in-laws, Gilbert and Jeanette, and my extended family all over the world—thank you for reading my books, sharing pictures of them and “making” your friends read them, too. Lots of love to Becki, who continues to champion everything I do from afar. BFFs forever is an understatement.
And last but never, ever least: to Rob and our boys, Leo, Matt and Lex. Thank you for putting up with me as I went through the usual love/hate relationship with this manuscript. Thanks also for holding down the fort and keeping me fed and watered while I disappeared into my book. I promise I’ll make it up to you with your weight in blueberry muffins, carrot cake and raclette (not necessarily in that order, although after a year like 2020...what the hell).
YOU
WILL
REMEMBER
ME
HANNAH MARY McKINNON
Reader’s Guide
Questions for Discussion
What do you make of Lily and Ash lying to each other about their past from the moment they met? Should we disclose our entire history to our partner, or are some things better left unsaid?
What do you think was behind Maya’s obsession for Ash? What was she hoping for? Did you see signs of her obsession early on, and if so, what were they?
How do you think the story would have unfolded if Ash hadn’t been attacked on the beach? Would he have ever gone back to Maine, or told Lily the truth about who he was? If he had told her, what do you think Lily might have done?
What do you think Maya, Ash and Lily were the most terrified of?
Maya, Ash and Lily all suffered tragic losses within their families, be it death or being cast aside. How do you think this shaped them, and what might have happened to them if their pasts had been different?
Did your allegiances shift at any point during the story? Toward whom, why, and when?
What scene was the most pivotal in the story for you? How would the novel have changed if it had been different, or hadn’t taken place? What did you expect to happen?
What surprised or shocked you the most? What didn’t you see coming? What was obvious?
How do you feel about stories where evil wins, at least temporarily?
What do you expect might happen next to Ash and Maya? Will either of them get what they want?
A Conversation with
Hannah Mary McKinnon
This is your fifth novel. What was your inspiration for You Will Remember Me?
A few years ago, a man from Toronto vanished from a ski hill in Lake Placid while there on vacation and showed up six days later in Sacramento. He had amnesia and couldn’t remember much, including the cross-country trip he’d made as he’d hitchhiked across the US. Everything worked out for the man in the end and he found his way home, but it made me wonder—what could have gone wrong? That was the genesis for You Will Remember Me. A while later I had a vivid image in my head—a man waking up on a deserted beach without any recollection of who he was, or what he was doing there. I kept coming back to his story, how he’d arrived on that beach, what he’d do, and how much danger he was in. As I noodled the plot around, I wondered what might happen if he found his way home but had no idea he’d actually left the town years before, and unknowingly walked back into the dragon’s den. That was it. I needed to know what happened next, and if he’d survive.
You have three point-of-view characters. Which one did you have the most fun writing?
Can I say all of them? Lily was great because she was determined to be a good person and put her past behind her. All she wanted was happiness and stability. Maya was deliciously evil, probably my darkest character yet, and it was incredibly interesting to spend so much time thinking about why she’d become the way she was, and how she could so easily rationalize her despicable actions. Honestly, she gave me the shivers. Ash was the most challenging character because I didn’t appreciate how difficult it is to write someone with amnesia. They can’t have memories or flashbacks, yet you don’t want scene after scene of them being told their history because it would make for tedious reading. That in itself was a great challenge and really stretched me as an author.
Do you have a favorite chapter or scene?
Oh, my goodness, the
