At the start of Memory of Water, Finnish author Emmi Itäranta introduces readers to a world without water and a world engulfed in violence. It is, ultimately, a world in turmoil. Because of human-caused climate change, water is one of the most scarce and sacred assets left on Earth. Because of the shortage of water, the world has changed in many substantive ways. For instance, China has taken control of much of Europe (the European Union was disbanded). Another union, called the Scandinavian Union, is created and is occupied by a dictatorial regime called New Qian, who rule their new territory with an iron fist. Beyond that, large-scale, bloody, and violent wars frequently break out over the water, a resource that is becoming rare and more difficult to obtain.
Memory of the Water follows a seventeen-year-old young woman named Noria Kaitio who lives in a village with her father, who is the village's tea master. In each village across Noria's country, the tea master is responsible for safeguarding the location of the town's water reserves, reserves which continue to dwindle as time passes and water does not replenish. Arguably, tea masters hold the most power of anyone in the new society in which water is exceptionally scarce. They also hold a number of secrets that they are unable to disclose to others.
Though she is still very young, Noria's father begins to develop a succession plan and starts to train his daughter how to be a tea master. Eventually, after her father dies in some time, her father hopes that she will take the mantle from him and become their village's tea master. Noria very much wants to do the same thing; she wants to carry on her family's legacy.
One day, Noria's father tragically dies and Noria becomes the tea master for their village. The death of her father shakes Noria (and their village) to their core. Over time, Noria begins to integrate into her new role and begins to earn the trust of her neighbors. But the army of the country Noria calls home begins to watch her and her village after her father's tragic death, worried that she will do something that they see as out of line in a time when it has become harder to find water supplies.
This incursion by her country's army leaves Noria with a dilemma: will she continue her job and potentially risk life and limb? Or will she retreat to relative safety and leave her village and the job that she and her father had been involved with for much of their life? At the end of the day, Noria decides to stay in the village and continue her job despite the obvious risks of doing so.
Memory of Water was written in 2014 during a time in which the debate surrounding climate change reached a fever pitch. Itäranta herself is an avowed climate change activist who believes that the world will be in a much worse place if humanity does not act quickly to curb the effects of climate change. But Memory of Water is told from a unique perspective: that of a Nordic person. Most works of climate fiction that are centered around climate change are told from the perspective of creators from the United States and England (like Margaret Atwood, J.G. Ballard, and Roland Emmerich).
Above all, though, Memory of Water was written to entertain potential readers (as most works of fiction are). Though Memory of Water was also meant to inform readers about the dangers of climate change, Itäranta first wanted to write a book that would be palatable and digestible for readers. That is why Itäranta transports readers into a dystopian future in which water is scarce and authoritarianism is on the rise: she wants to promulgate her message while still keeping the attention of her readers.
