The Book of Lost Friends (Lisa Wingate) – Review

Posted 13 April 2020 by Katie in General Market Fiction, Review, Time-slip / 2 Comments

Title: The Book of Lost Friends
Author: Lisa Wingate
Genre: Time-slip
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release date: 7 April 2020
Pages: 400

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About the Book

Bestselling author Lisa Wingate brings to life startling stories from actual “Lost Friends” advertisements that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil War, as newly freed slaves desperately searched for loved ones who had been sold away.

Louisiana, 1875: In the tumultuous era of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Hannie, a freed slave; Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now destitute plantation; and Juneau Jane, Lavinia’s Creole half sister. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texas, following roads rife with vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of stolen inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and siblings before slavery’s end, the pilgrimage west reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the limitless frontiers of Texas and, improbably, hope.

Louisiana, 1987: For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt—until she lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town. Augustine, Louisiana, is suspicious of new ideas and new people, and Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled live oaks and run-down plantation homes lie the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything.

Excerpt

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Review

“Just because we’re not always happy with what’s true doesn’t mean we shouldn’t know it. It’s how we learn. It’s how we do better in the future. Hopefully, anyway.”

It’s hard to know where to begin this review, but if I were to try to summarise the theme of this story, I couldn’t do much better than the quote I’ve led with. History is indeed full of truths we would rather forget, and it’s vitally important that it not be whitewashed simply because it makes us uncomfortable. But this story goes even deeper than general history, exploring the ways in which individual stories echo down the years and contribute to our sense of identity—an understanding of who we are, where we’ve come from, and what we might become.

As with her previous novel, Before We Were Yours, the character voices in this novel are beautifully and authentically rendered—Hannie’s in particular—making this a very immersive read. It was impossible not to get caught up in the ups and downs of Hannie’s oft-harrowing journey and Benny’s attempts at engaging the students in her classes, and I thought the inclusion of actual letters from the Lost Friends ads that inspired this book was particularly poignant. But perhaps most poignant of all was the way in which Wingate links Hannie’s and Benny’s stories right at the very end of the novel. It’s not an AHA! moment, but rather a quiet little ah moment—a small ray of light that lands on that missing puzzle piece that has been hiding in the shadows.

My one small criticism is that there were a few times I felt the story dragged slightly, but don’t let that stop you from experiencing all this story has to offer.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.

About the Author

Selected among BOOKLIST’S Top 10 for two years running, Lisa Wingate writes novels that Publisher’s Weekly calls “Masterful” and ForeWord Magazine refers to as “Filled with lyrical prose, hope, and healing.” Lisa is a journalist, an inspirational speaker, and the author of a host of literary works. Her novels have garnered or been short-listed for many awards, including the Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize, the Oklahoma Book Award, the Utah Library Award, the LORIES Best Fiction Award, The Carol Award, the Christy Award, Family Fiction’s Top 10, RT Booklover’s Reviewer’s Choice Award, and others. The group Americans for More Civility, a kindness watchdog organization, selected Lisa along with six others for the National Civies Award, which celebrates public figures who promote greater kindness and civility in American life. She’s been a writer since Mrs. Krackhardt’s first-grade class and still believes that stories have the power to change the world.

IN THE WRITER’S OWN WORDS: A special first grade teacher, Mrs. Krackhardt, made a writer out of me. That may sound unlikely, but it’s true. It’s possible to find a calling when you’re still in pigtails and Mary Jane shoes, and to know it’s your calling. I was halfway through the first grade when I landed in Mrs. Krackhardt’s classroom. I was fairly convinced there wasn’t anything all that special about me… and then, Mrs. Krackhardt stood over my desk and read a story I was writing. She said things like, “This is a great story! I wonder what happens next?”

It isn’t every day a shy new kid gets that kind of attention. I rushed to finish the story, and when I wrote the last word, the teacher took the pages, straightened them on the desk, looked at me over the top, and said, “You are a wonderful writer!”

A dream was born. Over the years, other dreams bloomed and died tragic, untimely deaths. I planned to become an Olympic gymnast or win the National Finals Rodeo, but there was this matter of back flips on the balance beam and these parents who stubbornly refused to buy me a pony. Yet the writer dream remained. I always believed I could do it because… well… my first grade teacher told me so, and first grade teachers don’t lie.

So, that is my story, and if you are a teacher, or know a teacher, or ever loved a special teacher, I salute you from afar and wish you days be filled with stories worth telling and stories worth reading.