The Memento Story

Memento's creator Michael McQueen had his world turned upside down at age 22 when his father's life was tragically and unexpectedly cut short.

It was Monday October 11 and Michael had called his father in the morning just to catch up. They talked about all the normal things: the weather, the weekend, and how work was going. Their conversation was neither significant nor memorable and it finished with a promise that Michael would drop in to see his parents that evening for dinner.

Little did Michael know that this was a promise he would never be able to keep.

Later that morning Michael received a phone call he would never forget. His older brother's trembling voice on the other end of the phone urged him to drop whatever he was doing and get to the hospital as quickly as he could. Michael's brother simply said that their father had collapsed at home and the ambulance officer who had attended to him warned that things did not look good.

For the three hours it took Michael to drive to the hospital, he played out every possible scenario in his mind. By the time Michael arrived, he had reassured himself that it was probably nothing and had decided to not get worried before knowing more about the situation.

As Michael gave his surname to the hospital warden, the look on her face made it clear that life for the McQueen family was about to change forever. "A massive heart attack without warning" was all the doctors could offer by way of explanation.

And with that, Michael's closest mentor and friend was gone forever.

In the days and weeks that followed, Michael and his family faced the gruelling and heartbreaking task of sorting through his father's papers and belongings. As they sifted through trinkets, photos and tokens of his life, they came across one item that made Michael's heart leap the moment he saw it. There in the bottom drawer of his father's desk was a well-worn notebook that he had forgotten even existed.

Michael instantly recognised this book as the gift he had given his dad for Father's Day the previous year. Armed with a list of questions, Michael had somewhat sheepishly asked his dad to write down stories and experiences from his life that had never before come up in conversation.

At the time Michael had no idea just how significant this simple request would be.

As he sat there 14 months later reading through the stories and experiences in that notebook, Michael found himself enthralled and captivated by how much he didn't know about his father and his life. Michael was struck by the things that were important to his father but were unspoken and also by how much they both had in common.

In numerous conversations over the next few months, Michael found himself recounting to others the experience of both finding and reading the notebook his father had left behind. Michael was amazed at how the story struck a chord with so many people. Everyone, it seemed, had a loved one whom they wished had filled out a similar book.

And so the idea for Memento was born.

Although it took three long years to secure an Australian publisher for Memento, it was finally released in October 2008 by Park Street Press and quickly became an Australian bestseller. Within 18 months, Memento's success began attracting the attention of publishers in the USA and in March 2009, the San Francisco-based publisher Chronicle Books secured the worldwide publishing rights. A fully updated and revised edition of Memento is now set for release in Spring 2010.