Subtitled 'How we make memories and memories make us', this intriguingly titled book doesn't disappoint, being an enlightening and thought-provoking read.

While it features plenty of science and medical case studies, there are also examples from literature which are fascinating!

The author is a practising psychiatrist who has spent many years observing how memory and experience are interwoven.

Why do memories feel so real? Why is place so important with memory? How are our sensations connected to memory? Are there true and false memories? What happens to memory in mental illness?

She draws on examples from literature to highlight how the understanding of memory and psychosis has changed over the years with examples from 'The Yellow Wallpaper' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and 'Waiting for Godot' by Samuel Beckett. She also refers to the life and work of Virginia Woolf, John Banville, Marcel Proust, WB Yeats, Lewis Carroll and others.

This book is many faceted. Some of the case studies are too involved, in my opinion, and the scientific information is very detailed though still accessible to the lay person, but the references to literature are compelling.