Amazon Editors' favorite summer reads
This edition of this title is not available for purchase in your country. Choose an available edition from the options above
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Jo Harkin
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Tell Me an Ending: A New York Times sci-fi book of the year Kindle Edition

by Jo Harkin (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 out of 5 stars 667 ratings
Editors' pick Best Science Fiction & Fantasy

'Compelling' GUARDIAN
'Incredibly well written . . . I really enjoyed it' MARIAN KEYES
'One of the most sophisticated works of science fiction I've read recently' NEW YORK TIMES

The promise at Nepenthe is simple: they will erase the memories you cannot live with.

After the procedure, psychologist Noor will assess you for two things: your mental wellbeing, and the successful erasure of the memory. But there is no assessment if you choose to delete the memory of the Nepenthe procedure itself. If you do that, you're on your own.

And what if one day, out of the blue, your memory is offered back to you - would you want to remember what you've chosen to forget?

'Extraordinary' EMMA STONEX
'Riveting' KAREN THOMPSON WALKER
'Utterly captivating' LUCY CLARKE
Thought-provoking. I loved it' MARCEL THEROUX

Read more
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    520 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Penguin
  4. Publication date
    May 12, 2022
  5. File size
    1.6 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
Next slide of product details
Unwell Hydration from Alex Cooper
Hydrate & focus with every sip Shop now

Editorial Reviews

Review

“We’re in the hands of a writer with a literary long view… Harkin seizes the opportunity to subvert expectation… An excellent first work by a promising new author.” —Locus



"A cleverly conceived and wonderfully executed ensemble piece: intriguing, frightening, witty and humane." —Wall Street Journal

“Sharply, beautifully written and punctuated with wry, slanted asides, Tell Me an Ending is one of the most sophisticated works of science fiction I’ve read recently. It’s full of tender portraits of people who aren’t inherently admirable or great—people who are bitter, jealous, anxious, taciturn—as they navigate the core question of who they are, with or without their memories. But there’s a deeper question, too, subtle as a pulse beneath each chapter’s skin: Where does memory live? Is it a node of synapses in the brain, or is it something more distributed—something in the stories we inherit, the stories we choose, the stories we choose to leave behind?” —Amal El-Mohtar, New York Times Book Review

"Revelations regarding identity, grief, and secrets prove to be both liberating and devastating.” —Esquire

"As thought-provoking as it is suspenseful.” —CrimeReads

“A thrilling dystopian masterpiece. . . . unputdownable.” —The Daily Hive

“An intriguing debut. . . . Harkin boldly imagines an eerily plausible present and masterfully probes several characters. . . . a thrilling speculative novel." —Shelf Awareness (starred review)

"This high-concept debut asks an interesting question: What if we could edit our memories? . . . Harkin builds a picture of a world radically altered by a controversial technology and of people who are learning that you can’t change the past without impacting the present. An intellectually and emotionally satisfying thriller." —Booklist

"A richly imagined debut. Harkin keeps the plot tight and times her reveals effectively. It adds up to a smart speculative outing.” —Publishers Weekly

“Intriguing and compelling. . . . Interconnected storylines all arrive at the same conclusion: Messing with memory is messy business.” —Kirkus Reviews

“An Important novel. . . . Jo Harkin does a masterful job. . . . this mind-bending debut will certainly make you think.” —Book Reporter

"Clever and imaginative, Tell Me an Ending is a riveting and thought-provoking exploration of one of our most precious and fragile powers: the ability to remember the moments of our lives." —Karen Thompson Walker, author of The Dreamers

“An extraordinary novel—intelligent and searching, with deep questions about humanity, history and self. Expansive in its scope and themes, but never losing touch with its characters’ hearts and minds, Tell Me an Ending is gripping, inventive, and a memory I’ll never forget.” —Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters

"Whip-smart and thoughtful with a dark vein of humor. Compulsively readable. I loved it." —Christina Sweeney-Baird, author of The End of Men

"A twisting, electric debut exploring the potential for a life without our most painful or regretful memories. Tell Me an Ending examines the intersection of self and memory—when chosen memories can be removed—and how what we attempt to leave behind eventually catches up with us." —Meredith Westgate, author of The Shimmering State

"A cautionary tale about technology making its way into the very depths of our personal lives, Tell Me an Ending is thought-provoking and utterly compulsive." —Tahmima Anam, author of The Startup Wife

"Suspenseful, richly imagined, and brimming with compassion, Jo Harkin’s Tell Me an Ending poses tantalizing questions about technology, ethics, capitalism, memory, trauma, and fate. How far would we go to live a happier life? Who are we without the memories that have shaped us? A feat of ingenious, intricate world-building. I finished the last page desperate to discuss this brilliant novel with everyone I know." —Jessamine Chan, author of The School for Good Mothers

About the Author

Jo Harkin studied literature at university. She daydreamed her way through various jobs in her twenties before becoming a full-time writer. She lives in Berkshire, England, and Tell Me an Ending is her first novel.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09G6F82PH
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 12, 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1.6 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 520 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1529151398
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 667 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Jo Harkin

Jo Harkin

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Jo Harkin’s debut speculative fiction novel, Tell Me An Ending, was a New York Times Book of the Year. Her first historical novel, The Pretender, will be published in April 2025 in the U.K. and US. She lives in Berkshire, England.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
667 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Customers say

Customers find the book's premise great.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more

3 customers mention "Book potential"3 positive0 negative

Customers find this book to be among the best they've read.

"The potential was there for this book and I was really excited for kt. Just felt the author got bored" Read more

"The best book I've read this year...." Read more

"Love this book!..." Read more

3 customers mention "Premise"3 positive0 negative

Customers like the premise of the book.

"...What a great premise: selective memory removal...." Read more

"fantastic premise, great start but the story drags..." Read more

"Great premise, awful delivery..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Melissa Anne Trew
    4.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking and interesting
    Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2022
    ”Do you want to know a secret? It’s about you. It might make you happy, or it might be something unimaginably horrible. Once you know it, you can’t unknow it..”

    A high-end medical company called Nepenthe has developed the technology to isolate and remove people’s unwanted memories. Sounds too good to be true,and so it must be. Former patients, unaware they’ve had the procedure, are suffering from “memory traces,” and Noor, a patient-care psychologist at Nepenthe, begins to suspect that something sinister is going on, and that company executives are trying to hide the truth.

    ”What if RASA is a code word for procedures that went wrong, somehow, and had to be covered up?”

    This book’s premise drew me in right off the bat, and I went in with high expectations, hoping for a combination of Recursion and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. And I was absolutely hooked by the chapters dealing with Nepenthe, Noor, and the allegations of conspiracies and cover-ups happening within the company.

    ”There is no eternal sunshine; there is no spotless mind.”

    There were other storylines woven in too, involving current and former Nepenthe patients and their family members, and how they’d been impacted by the memory removal process. These chapters read more like short stories - isolated narratives with different characters, settings, and conflicts; sharing a repeating theme/pattern, but having little else in common. I wasn’t as intrigued by these, and found myself wanting to skip ahead to “the good parts.”

    ”It’s all out of control. What is Noor a part of? Something doing damage, harm spreading out across the world, each harm dividing and multiplying.”

    At times, the book was a little hard to follow. The narrative pattern would abruptly shift consciousness by jumping suddenly from present-day interactions to memory fragments, with little to no warning, and this was often confusing. Also, the author uses quotation marks to denote speech inconsistently—sometimes adding them, sometimes not—and that was also challenging for me. (Obviously that’s not something that impacts the book’s content, but for me, it does impact readability.)

    ”What would you get rid of, if you had to get rid of a memory?”

    Overall, though, I really loved the premise and stayed interested throughout the novel, wanting to discover, along with Noor, what Nepenthe was really up to! And ultimately, the secondary characters’ stories did become interesting in really meaningful ways. It took a while to get there, but I’m glad I stuck it out - this book was absolutely worth the read, with its fascinating questions about morality and ethics, and will keep me thinking for a long time!

    “The public doesn’t hate us because we played God. It’s because we weren’t God. We got something wrong. They’ve realized we’re humans. They’ll never forgive us.”

    ——

    Thanks to Jo Harkin, Scribner, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
    5 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Davinci
    5.0 out of 5 stars The best book I've read this year.
    Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Harkin takes on a high level challenge with this book. Multiple timelines, multiple viewpoints, a science fiction scenario filled with philosophical musings, real world references, and a question at the heart of it all: If you could give up your most painful memories, would you? And if you did, would you still be the same person?
    I was hooked from the opening pages, as a cast of well written characters, each with their own flaws, beliefs, and traumas, search for the answers hidden in their pasts.
    I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a thought provoking story that will leave you with a new perspective on memory, pain, and the human psyche.
    2 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Antonio Rodriguez
    3.0 out of 5 stars fantastic premise, great start but the story drags
    Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    I loved the premise of this book from the start. The writing is excellent. But the story drags at the 50% mark and does not regain steam. And in addition, a few of the many characters you have to follow don’t end up being relevant in the end.
    3 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • She Treads Softly
    4.0 out of 5 stars a tech company can delete unwanted memories
    Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2022
    Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin is a highly recommended debut novel about a tech company that can delete unwanted memories.

    Clients at Nepenthe, a memory removal clinic, are classified as two types. Self-informed clients know they had a procedure to wipe a recent memory. Self-confidential clients have chosen the option to forget they’ve had the removal. After self-confidential clients plagued by trace memories file a class action lawsuit, Nepenthe begins to to inform all self confidential clients of their deletion and offer memory restorations. Noor is a psychologist at a Nepenthe who begins to have some concern about the actions of her boss, Louise.

    Four clients of Nepenthe are followed along with Noor. Mei is living in Kuala Lumpur and is experiencing trace memories of a city she doesn't remember visiting. Finn, an architect in the Arizona desert, suspects his wife of having an affair. William, a former police inspector, is struggling with PTSD, and breakdown of his marriage. Oscar, a wealthy young man who has almost no memories at all, spends his time traveling the world in a state of fear.

    Set in an alternate near-present dystopian world, Tell Me an Ending is an imaginative, speculative science fiction novel that raises questions about the nature of memories and how those memories may make us who we are. If your worst memory could be removed, would it change you for the better or would you lose part of the fabric that composes your personality. If you began to have phantom memories, trace memories of some event you don't remember, would you opt to have the memory restored after learning you purposefully chose to remove it? Would you feel compelled to get an answer to what you had removed? So many hypothetical questions arise over the question of removing memories and beg for discussion. Harkin's novel offers thoughts over some of those discussions and explorations through the characters in her novel.

    Tell Me an Ending is an imaginative and engrossing novel with a plot that will keep your attention throughout. The plot is character-driven rather than science based once the scenario is introduced along with the characters. Admittedly, some of the character's stories were more descriptive and compelling than others for me and it took a while for the novel to pick up momentum and offer connections. The story lines could have been tightened up because there was repetition in some of the characters questions and thoughts. Once the story lines begin to connect, and the characters begin to question their choices, it is hard to put down until the end.

    Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Scribner.
    6 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Fina
    5.0 out of 5 stars Love this book!
    Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    I'm at least half way through the book and loving every word. What a great premise: selective memory removal. I don't usually read this genre but I will definitely follow this author and look for other books in literary sci-fi.
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Mig Bardsley
    4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and very well written
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 5, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    I enjoyed this novel a lot, partly because of the beautifully spare and crisp writing and partly because of the slow and careful way the characters were developed.
    The premise was good too - if you had a deeply distressing memory would you want it removed. And if you were later offered it back, would you want that? This novel suggests ways in which people might be affected and how it might be handled by a tech corporation which leads to a degree of suspense - after all you don't expect companies making money from new and suddenly suspect technology to be squeaky clean do you?
    A subtle and fresh approach to sci fi with wonderfully human characters and, amazingly and delightfully, not a cliche in sight. Brilliant.
    Report
  • Misery
    2.0 out of 5 stars Not my type
    Reviewed in Canada on June 17, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I read this in a curiosity that I'd get a better explanation than the story held. I didn't understand the connection to each character until I had hit the 70% mark. The fact it took that long has me baffled and I wonder: was it me and it went over my head or did those story have poor explanation.

    I've had this book on my list for MONTHS. I started it after Christmas I believe and just..managed to finish now. It was hard to stay interested and I did feel like giving up.and letting it go but I was determined to see it through as there were two characters that I was curious about. I was not happy with Noor and Louise's characters. I felt like a lot of noor's narration was just filling a gap. Maybe it's just me, and this is not my type of book. I'm content in letting this one go.
    Report
  • Erin
    5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 16, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    This book has a dystopian concept but is a very enjoyable read and keeps you wondering throughout. The ending is perfect as it ties up the whole story. A good read if you enjoy science fiction
    Report
  • Imported Racoon
    3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting storyline but dragged out
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 13, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Had a new year resolution to ensure I read at least a book a month. Read 2 a month from Jan to Mar. Started reading this in March and still could not finish the book in May.

    I love the dystopian genre and the storyline sounded really interesting. Agree with another comment that this would make a great hour episode for Black Mirror. However the book dragged out too long and characters were not engaging. I have given up and moved on.

    Could someone tell me the ending?
    Report
  • NIGEL LIPPARD
    4.0 out of 5 stars Well crafted and thought provoking tale.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 3, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    Very enjoyable read , It created a lot of personal reflection and self analysis on how past experiences can dramatically affect the person you are today.
    Report

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report