What I Remember & What I Forgot
Laura K. Soerensen
Books on Demand (2025)
ISBN: 978-8771458459
Reviewed by Ada Jenkins for Reader Views (07/2025)
The path to freedom and forging your own destiny is worth fighting for, something that twenty-one-year-old Dorothea knows only too well. Having boarded a ship from Copenhagen to New Zealand in 1952, escaping a constricting life and pre-arranged marriage, she longs to travel the world. However, things become complicated when Dorothea integrates a new friendship group. She is introduced to Peter—a disarmingly charming and handsome young man—who manages to infiltrate her heart, with unforeseen consequences.
In What I Remember & What I Forgot, Laura K. Soerensen paints a vivid picture of Auckland in the 1950s. This is a city endowed with quiet streets, quaint antique shops, and vibrant markets. Evocative descriptions draw upon the five senses, immersing the reader in the plot, as we experience everything for the first time alongside the central protagonist. An example of this is when Dorothea steps into the pie shop, remarking that “The warm air carried the smell of butter and spices.”
The novel begins with seventy-one-year-old Dorothea imparting her life story to Theo—an inquisitive fellow traveler with whom she has struck up an acquaintance. In a series of flashbacks, she recalls her time in Auckland and beyond, travelling all over the world. Dorothea’s perspective as an older, wiser woman continues to fade in and out of the main narrative at certain key intervals. This non-linear structure helps to build suspense, the plot switching from past to present, which adds breadth and depth to the story.
The characters are engaging and three-dimensional. Peter arouses a wide range of emotions in Dorothea (and, by extension, the reader), leaving her vacillating between longing for him to appear one moment to despising his (often contradictory) behavior the next. Dorothea’s emotional ambivalence makes her an intriguing and compelling narrator. Afraid of commitment, yet also keen to forge a deep connection with others, she, too, is a complex character.
This is a psychologically riveting novel, unafraid to explore the full spectrum of human emotion.
Themes of love, friendship, and travel will appeal to a young adult audience. A close first-person point of view creates in-the-moment storytelling, giving the story a sense of immediacy that will hold the attention of YA readers.
I also think this book can be enjoyed by adults, particularly those who enjoy women’s fiction. There is a strong focus on the central protagonist’s emotional journey and relationships. Women’s rights (or the lack thereof) in the early 1950s is also an underlying theme, with Dorothea’s independence as a solo traveler being frowned upon at the time.
This mesmerizing novel succeeds in capturing the subtle complexities of the human heart. Laura K. Soerensen is a master storyteller, adept at evoking a myriad of responses in the reader. Infused with joy, heartbreak, and almost every other emotion in between, What I Remember & What I Forgot will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading the final page.