The Book of Lost Things

The Book of Lost Things
by John Connolly

Finished a heart-warming story by John Connolly in his book The Book of Lost Things.  Twelve year-old David struggles with the death of his mother.  A few months later, his father finds a young woman, Rosa, who was an administrator at the hospital that David’s mother died.  David, a quiet and reserved young child, spends his time reading books and traveling deeply into his own mind.  David’s father ends up marrying Rosa and they all move in to her family mansion, providing a new space for David to deal with his demons.  David experiences much grief with the loss of his mother, a new step-mother, and then the arrival of a step-brother, Gregory.  His relationship with Rosa worsens and, after a verbal fight, he is forced to give up reading books and punished by being sent to his room, where a voice calls him to the backyard. There, he enters a hole in the garden wall leading to ‘another world’.  The journey leads David to believe he can find his mother but, the longer he is there, the more he wants to get back to his real life.  The journey includes meeting a woodsman, a eunuch, seven dwarfs, the ‘crooked man’, a huntress, and the need to find the King, whom he is told can give him the book of lost things to escape this underworld.  During his journey, David finds the strength within himself to fight back demons and other evil spirits that attempt to pull him down.  In the end, he learns that the ‘crooked man’ can only live if he has the soul of a child captured in his hour glass, and David needs to make the decision to give up his step-brother Georgie, or save himself to go back home.  David triumphs in the end and is returned home!  The author provides a brief overview of the rest of David’s life and how he becomes a writer.  The journey is thrilling and has twists and turns throughout.  A coming-of-age story that leaves the reader imagining how David will escape each and every challenge he faces – which he does!  A thoroughly entertaining piece that reminds one that books have a lot of lost things in them, including emotions that get developed through great writing.  Great story!