Review by Booklist Review
Reeling after a recent divorce, Laura takes a job as the housekeeper and assistant of eccentric writer Anthony Peardew and unknowingly steps into a world of lost things. Adrift herself, Laura finally feels at peace while at Anthony's estate and grows to understand his tragic past. After his sudden death, Laura is charged with the task of reuniting Anthony's collection of lost items and their owners in hopes of mending just one broken heart. This job seems insurmountable, and she soon discovers the house is filled with not just lost trinkets but lost souls, too. This present-day narrative alternates with the history behind each misplaced object as well as the life story of Eunice, who has both lost and found objects vital to Laura's mission. Although these story lines progress slowly and feel a bit detached, warm and quirky characters and the mystery of each lost item impel the reader forward. In the end, Hogan's first novel reveals how even discarded items have significance and seemingly random objects, people, and places are all interconnected.--Norstedt, Melissa Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Interlacing plots join this cozy, clever, contemporary English story, unveiling the layers of four lives brought together by the discovery of a biscuit tin full of human ashes found on a train. Laura, an unhappy 35-year-old divorcée, answers an ad for a writer's assistant. Years earlier, Eunice responds to a similar advertisement for a publisher's assistant. Enter -Anthony Peardew, the writer, and Bomber, the publisher, who both have their own complicated romantic and family histories. The story involves Anthony's collection of lost items he catalogs and stores in the locked study at Padua, the Victorian villa where he lives and writes. He acquires items he finds in gutters, parks, and trains: jigsaw puzzle pieces, hair ribbons, umbrellas, etc. The novel includes short tales with the narratives behind each lost item. Laura decides to create a website to find the owners of the artifacts, including the human ashes. -VERDICT Hogan's debut pulls in readers with each crafty chapter. Memorable minor characters add to the plot in this excellent selection for discussion groups.-Joyce Sparrow, Kenneth City, FL © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Hogan's whimsical first novel weaves together the stories of two British assistants, one of whom works for a publisher in the 1970s and the other who, in the present day, works for an unusual elderly gentleman who has dedicated himself to assembling a room full of "a sad salmagundi" of 40 years' worth of detritus lost or abandoned by its owners.In the '70s, imaginative young Eunice escapes from a dull life into a job with the charming Bomber, who runs an old-school publishing house where he picks only books of which he is personally fond while trying to avoid the manuscripts sent to him by his shrewish sister, Portia. Forty years later, Laura, awash in Prozac and alcohol after dumping her caddish husband, lands at the door of Anthony, the titular "keeper of lost things." Soon after she's hired, Anthony dies, leaving her the house and the responsibility of uniting the lost things with their former owners. She finds herself involved not only with the project, but with the estate's appealing gardener; a mysterious young woman with Down syndrome and psychic abilities; and a peevish ghost. The two storylines entwine with the short stories Anthony has written about the former owners of his objects, most of which turn out to be surprisingly on target and all of which add a welcome dash of sorrow and disappointment to what otherwise starts to turn into a rather conventional romance. While the villainous Portia, who writes novels with plots plagiarized from Jane Austen and J.K. Rowling, quickly grows wearisome, the other characters have spunk and wit to spare, and if the plot requires considerable suspension of disbelief, Hogan's writing has the soothing warmth of the cups of cocoa and tea her characters regularly dispense. Readers looking for some undemanding, old-fashioned storytelling with a sprinkling of magic will find it here. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
