These Memories Do Not Belong to Us

A Novel

By: Yiming Ma

Narrated by: Will Dao, Jeremy Ang Jones, David Shih, Cindy Kay, Brian Nishii, Jeanne Sakata, Catherine Ho, Francois Chau, Eunice Wong, Kenneth Lee, Reuben Uy, Sura Siu, James Chen, Jennifer Lim

For fans of American War and Cloud Atlas, a hauntingly beautiful and prescient debut novel set in a future where a renamed China is the sole global superpower and citizens can record and transfer memories between minds.

When I was a boy, my mother used to tell me stories of a world before memories could be shared between strangers . . .

In a far-off future ruled by the Qin Empire, every citizen is fitted with a Mindbank, an intracranial device capable of recording and transmitting memories between minds. This technology gives birth to Memory Capitalism, where anyone with means can relive the life experiences of others. It also unleashes opportunities for manipulation: memories can be edited, marketed, and even corrupted for personal gain.

After the sudden passing of his mother, an unnamed narrator inherits a collection of banned memories from her Mindbank so dangerous that even possessing them places his freedom in jeopardy. Traversing genres, empires, and millennia, these memories once belonged to sumo wrestlers and social activists, armless swimmers and watchmakers, all struggling to survive amid the backdrop of Qin’s ascent toward global dominance. Determined to release his mother's memories to the world before they are destroyed forever, the narrator will risk everything—even if the cost is his own life.

Powerful and provocative, These Memories Do Not Belong to Us masterfully explores how governments and media manipulate history to control the collective imagination. It inspires us to see beyond the sheen of convenient truths, revealing stories of sacrifice and love that refuse to be eradicated.

Critic reviews

“Stunning. A deeply imaginative debut of a near-future dystopia, profoundly humane in its exploration of memory and the stories that make us who we are.”
—Vincent Lam, Giller Prize–winning author of Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures

“Chilling, poignant, and uncomfortably timely. Ma’s braided memory dispatches explore a future in which the shifting concepts of safety, loyalty, and truth lead nowhere except condemnation.”
—Tessa Hulls, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Feeding Ghosts

“Mesmerizing. A deeply felt and meticulously crafted novel that entrances the reader from the first sentence to its last.”
—Jason Mott, National Book Award–winning author of Hell of a Book

“This isn’t just a novel. It’s a revolutionary experiment in how our memories and histories can save us. By turns heartbreaking and eerily prescient, Ma’s ambitious debut breaks open the hidden parts of us and scatters them across the night sky for you to discover.”
—Sequoia Nagamatsu, author of How High We Go in the Dark

“Yiming Ma’s gripping, kaleidoscopic debut marries our current anxiety around
surveillance, technology, personal data, and geopolitical unrest with a world where
stories remain a tool for connection and revolution.”
—Lillian Li, author of Number One Chinese Restaurant

“Extraordinary. A melancholic mosaic of lives brilliantly bearing witness to the ways
memories shape and reshape individuals, nations, histories, and futures.”
—Ai Jiang, Nebula and Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Linghun