View source for The Colour of Memory by Christopher Bowden

{{infobox1 
|title=The Colour of Memory
|sort=Colour of Memory, The
|author=Christopher Bowden
|reviewer=Jill Murphy
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=An artist finds a notebook written in code and sets out to unravel its meaning. Will it give her inspiration back? And can the appearance of an old flame help? A thoughtful look at the artistic process and how it collides with our personal human connections.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=191
|publisher=Amolibros
|website=http://www.xyztransit4.co.uk/
|date=October 2025
|isbn=0955506778 
|cover=B0FK5LHKD9
|aznuk=B0FK5LHKD9
|aznus=B0FK5LHKD9
}}

It's been three years since we last reviewed a book by favourite regular Christopher Bowden, so we were very glad to see a new novel arrive here at Bookbag Towers. Like all Bowden's stories, there's a mystery at the heart of ''The Colour of Memory''. We like this running theme in an author's work - take a mystery but give it different flavour and atmosphere each time.

''The Colour of Memory'' is set in the world of art and it's interested in the artistic process and the inspirations behind it. Lucy Potter is a highly successful artist but she's lost her mojo and hasn't created anything new in far too long. This lack of inspiration is beginning to concern her. Who and what is she, if not an artist any more?

And then two things happen. An art reunion brings Rex, an ex-lover back into Lucy's life. And, while out walking, Lucy finds an old notebook written in code, which she's curious enough to try to decipher. Who is the girl whose haunting experiences are described? What happened to her? Is she still alive? Where is the house with the wrong address? And will pursuing the answers to these questions and reconnecting with Rex pull Lucy further away from art or inspire her back into it?

I truly enjoyed reading this novel. The prose flows well, the dialogue is good and the mystery of the notebook is plotted very well. But mostly, it's a story about people and art and the connections and associations between them. It's as interesting to follow Lucy and the way she sees and approaches the world as it is to follow the clues about the girl in the notebook. Lucy's search begins as a quest for fresh artistic inspiration with the notebook at its heart but branches out into not only a window art project but also into her connections with people she knows and mystery figures the notebook reveals. The ways in which she folds all these things into her artist's understanding is fascinating.

''The Colour of Memory'' is probably not the best page-turner you'll read this year but I bet you'll find it one of the most absorbing. It pays off as a slower-paced read, despite the mystery at its heart because it gives you so much to think about. How do I approach the world? From where do I get my inspiration? What is my relationship to art? It's also a fascinating glimpse at the artistic process.
Recommended.

You should also look at [[The Green Door by Christopher Bowden|The Green Door]], also by Bowden. For more fictionalised examination of the artistic process, you could try [[The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai]].

{{interviewtext|author=Christopher Bowden about 'The Purple Shadow'}}

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