Georgiana “Georgie” Kendrick has always led a happy life; she lives with her wealthy parents in a lovely Boston neighborhood, she attends a private school, and enjoys practicing her oboe in hopes of becoming a professional musician. But when her heart fails unexpectedly and she receives a transplant, Georgie remembers things that never happened to her and she recognizes people she’s never met. Before long, Georgie realizes that she is remembering scenes from her heart donor’s life. And with each memory she gains from the donor, the more of her own memories she loses.
Initially, all Georgie knows about her donor is that she was a teenage girl whose body was left unclaimed. But when she looks deeper, she discovers the donor—only known as Annabel—had been living on the streets, was forced into prostitution, and committed suicide by leaping from a balcony. Georgie begins traveling into the poorest areas of Boston to find out what she can about Annabel—and figure out how to stop Annabel’s memories from replacing her own. She encounters a world where homeless teen girls are trafficked into the sex trade. Georgie also meets Nate, a young man trying to help the trafficked girls, and falls in love. But when she learns Annabel was actually murdered, love takes a backseat as Georgie and Nate work to figure out who killed Annabel—before Georgie loses her own memories entirely.
Nicole Maggi’s The Forgetting doesn’t shy away from tough subjects such as organ donations, child trafficking, and murder. The reader experiences, alongside Georgie, the survivor’s guilt that comes from living with the heart of a deceased person. The reader experiences the hopelessness Georgie and Nate feel when they worry about the girls they meet on the street, and Georgie’s fear as she gets closer to finding Annabel’s killer. But the reader also feels the stirrings of Georgie’s love for Nate, the sense of purpose she feels when looking for the murderer, and the peace that calms her when she practices her oboe.
As Georgie tries to reconcile her friends, family, and career dreams with her new experiences, she finds herself searching for more than a killer—Georgie finds she is searching for meaning in her own life. A suspenseful mystery involving love, identity, justice, and purpose, The Forgetting will surpass the highest expectations readers have.
