If you could eliminate a memory from your mind completely, would you do it? And what would it mean for society if everyone had the ability to erase memories? These questions are at the heart of Portland writer Karen Russell’s latest novel, “The Antidote.”

The book opens on Black Sunday, the dust storm in April 1935 that swept thousands of tons of topsoil into the air over the Midwest. One of the central characters, a “prairie witch” known as The Antidote, can remove people’s memories and store them in her own body. As she and the other main characters' lives intersect, they learn more about the value of those memories and the history of the land and the people who came before them. And that more complete past enables them to see alternate futures. Karen Russell joins us to talk about the book.

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/03/21/think-out-loud-portland-author-karen-russell-new-novel-the-antidote/