In The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy, in the city of Craewick, memories reign. The power-obsessed ruler of the city, Madame, has cultivated a society in which memory are currency, citizens are divided by ability, and Gifted individuals can take memories from others through touch as they please. 17-year-old Etta Lark is desperate to live outside of the corrupt culture, but grapples with the guilt of an accident that has left her mother bedridden in the city's asylum. When Madame threatens to put her mother up for Auction, a Craewich tradition in which a 'worthless' person's memories are sold to the highest bidder before she is killed, Etta will do whatever it takes to save her. Even if it means rejoining the Shadows, the rebel group she swore off in the wake of the accident years earlier. Recommended for ages 13 years and older; hardcover.
