The Lost Story

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What to expect

'This wildly imaginative book speaks to every reader who yearns for a more magical world' - THAO THAI, author of Banyan Moon

'If you'd like to dream instead of a parallel world where love and loyalty and friendship are the magic that transforms the least of us into genuine heroes, then Meg Shaffer's The Lost Story is the book you've been waiting for' - RICHARD RUSSO, author of Empire Falls



From the author of the bestselling novel The Wishing Game comes a Narnia-inspired fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobe doors . . . just in case.

Once upon a time, two boys went missing in the woods. Six months later, they reappeared, with no explanation for where they'd been or how they'd survived.

Fifteen years on, Rafe is a reclusive artist with no memory of what happened during those months, despite the scars he bears. Meanwhile, Jeremy is a famed missing persons investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her long-lost sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy also keeps a secret: the fantastical truth about the magical realm they made home for those six months. And it's there they may find Emilie's sister.

Alongside Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they left behind - for only then can they get back everything and everyone they've lost.

'Wholly moving . . . reminded me that even as an adult, if you look hard enough, you can find the child still inside you' - Jodi Picoult, author of Mad Honey, on The Wishing Game

'A heartwarming, page-turning story of found family [and] love triumphing over indifference' - Melissa Albert, author of The Hazel Wood, on The Wishing Game

'A dreamy, inventive novel . . . Full of the power of imagination, it's one of my favourite books of the year' - Sarah Addison Allen, author of Other Birds, on The Wishing Game

'A meditation on the power of hope when all else seems lost' - Kirkus Reviews on The Wishing Game

Critics Review

Meg Shaffer's The Lost Story is one of those extraordinary novels that nestles its way right into your heart. With all the elements we love in a timeless tale-mystery, adventure, romance, a lushly beautiful setting-this wildly imaginative book speaks to every reader who yearns for a world more magical than any they've experienced. Shaffer's warm and wry prose lures a reader right in, inviting them into a land where unlikely heroes and villains roam, where unfinished stories might finally find their endings. If you've ever been lost-and haven't we all?-The Lost Story will make you feel as if you've come home
Thao Thai, author of Banyan Moon
If our sad, brutal, cynical, cowardly, unkind, exhausting world is too much for you, if you'd like to dream instead of a parallel world where love and loyalty and friendship are the magic that transforms the least of us into genuine heroes, then Meg Shaffer's The Lost Story is the book you've been waiting for. And here's the real magic. When you return from that enchanted place to the world you wanted to escape from, you'll find it's changed. Why? Because you have
Richard Russo, author of EMPIRE FALLS
Readers will find this an absolutely immersive pleasure to read. Shaffer delivers an unforgettable and nostalgic experience, especially for fans of The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis or fairy-tale retellings
Library Journal (starred)
Meg Shaffer's The Lost Story is a gorgeously wrought tale of yearning, grief and hope . . . Layered atop it all, a delicious smattering of meta-narrative keeps the story feeling less like a tragedy and more like the warmhearted fairy tale that it is, reminding us that there is likely a happy ending (at least of sorts) waiting for us at the end of it all
BookPage (starred review)
Shaffer manages to capture the joys and magic of childhood innocence alongside the wisdom that comes with age and the heartache and scars that make it difficult to go home again. The taut mystery keeps the pages of this love letter to the fantasy genre flying. Readers will be transfixed
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Meg Shaffer's second novel is both a fairytale for grown-ups and a love story. Recommended reading for anyone seeking to reawaken a sense of wonder
Southern Book Review
There's a fundamental psychology at the heart of this book that is its biggest triumph. And it sits perfectly alongside its central mystery - unspooled with cheerful self-awareness and a lot of wit
SFX
Jeremy, Rafe, and Emilie all embark on a wild and magical adventure that makes for a perfect cozy fantasy read, reminiscent of the childhood books we grew up loving
HuffPost
This soothing novel will appeal to fans of classic and portal fantasies, where other fantastic worlds are lying under our own, just waiting to be discovered
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