Recently, I started thinking about YA novels featuring characters who are missing their memories.  Memory loss can definitely happen in realistic fiction (a character has a head injury, or is in a state of shock, or gets blackout drunk).  But what I’d like to focus on today are some of my favorite examples of missing memories in fantasy and science fiction.  In these books the characters’ minds are wiped with drugs, surgery, rays, or mysterious techniques that we can’t even imagine.

Sometimes the characters in these books know that they’re missing their memories, but sometimes they don’t realize it until much later.  While the memory loss itself is fascinating, I have to admit that my favorite part of these stories is when those blocked memories start coming back!  

Beta by Rachel Cohn

Elysia is a 16-year-old clone.  All she knows is that the real girl she was cloned from is dead.  But who was that girl?  What was her name?  How did she die?  Does anyone miss her?  Elysia can’t help but wonder about the dead girl who looked just like her.  

More Than This by Patrick Ness

The last thing Seth remembered was swimming in the ocean, fighting against the waves that smashed his body into the rocks.  He remembered drowning, and then he remembered waking up in front of a house that looked vaguely familiar.  He has no idea where he is.  And he doesn’t know if he’s alive, if he’s dead, or if he’s dreaming.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Two weeks ago Jenna woke up from a coma, but huge pieces of her memory are still missing.  She can’t even recognize her own family.  Now she spends time every day watching videos that her parents filmed of her childhood, and she waits for her memories to come back.

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

The Leteo Institute offers to wipe away a person’s memories of the past.  Is it worth the price to try to get rid of your own bad memories?  This miraculous procedure might be too good to be true.

Slated by Teri Terry

Nine months ago Kyla was Slated—her mind was wiped clean of its memories.  She know very little about herself, except that she must have been a criminal.  Because being Slated is supposed to be more humane than jail or the death penalty.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

When Tally turns sixteen, she will finally be transformed into a pretty.  She can’t wait to have all of her ugly features fixed and cut away, and to have a fun and happy life filled with wild parties and lots of new friends.  She can’t wait to become so beautiful that she won’t have to think about who she used to be.

The Program by Suzanne Young

Teen suicide was at an all-time high.  One out of three teenagers were killing themselves, and nobody could explain why it was happening.  That’s why the government started taking any teens who showed signs of depression and forcing them into the Program, because it was the only cure for suicidal thoughts.  But in the process of removing those thoughts, it removed other memories, too.