The Keeper of Lost Things: The feel-good novel of the year

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As a result, this book reads more like a collection of short stories, and I never felt invested in any of the characters.

Hogan also overly explains things. For example, the sister would act horribly and just to clarify, the author would further write something along the lines of, "the horrible sister." Then, he decides to pass his huge collection on to his house assistant and asks her to make sure everything finds its home, and this is when the story began unravelling to me, because she accepts this challenge as a way to make up for her being a huge disappointment to her parents?I studied English and Drama at Goldsmiths College which was brilliant, but then I came home and got a 'proper' job. I worked for ten years in a senior local government position (I was definitely a square peg in a round hole, but it paid the bills and mortgage) before a car accident left me unable to work full-time and convinced me to start writing seriously. It was going well, but then in 2012 I got cancer, which was bloody inconvenient but precipitated an exciting hair journey from bald to a peroxide blonde Annie Lennox crop. When chemo kept me up all night I passed the time writing and the eventual result was The Keeper of Lost Things. Lime green plastic flower-shaped hair bobbles—Found, on the playing field, Derrywood Park, 2nd September.

Sigh. I didn't like this book. It's one of those cute, sweet, Hallmark-movie type stories that I wish I did like, but the simpleness and sweetness and the obvious way that everything wraps up perfectly is so implausible that it made me groan in frustration.Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.

The house that Anthony leaves to Laura is named Padua and without a doubt, there is the supernatural presence of Anthony's late fiance in the house and garden. Sunshine. a lively, clever, serious, delightful nineteen year old woman with Downs Syndrome, has a supernatural connection with Therese, despite never meeting her when she was alive. In fact, Sunshine just seems to know a lot of things about Therese and also about the owners of the lost things. The narration of her character had me seeing her so vividly, making her one of my favorite characters in a book full of touching characters. Not to be forgotten, is Freddy, the hunky gardener who allows Laura to think of love again, and Carrot, the mistreated stray dog, who knows that he is loved and safe, in his new home. Anthony Peardew collects lost items, catalogues them and stores them in his study hoping one day the thousands of objects will be reunited with their rightful owners. Knowing he is dying he bequeaths his house and all the lost treasures, to his assistant and friend Laura, the one person he knows who will carry out his wishes. However, unforeseen repercussions trigger some unanticipated series of encounters. As the threads of the story gradually pull together, questions are answered, lives are changed and the lost are found.In parallel with the memorabilia project, there is another story involving a book publisher Bomber, his assistant Eunice, and Bomber’s hilarious sister, Portia. Portia wants her brother to publish one of her books, but with titles like “Lady Chatterley’s Chauffeur” Bomber has a real problem endorsing her plagiarised writing efforts. Little does he recognise that when plagiarism is so bad and obvious, it becomes a parody. I loved the symbolic representation of these lost items, and how they resemble each character’s journey to finding their own way; their own home. The theme of being “lost and found” is constant and the very heart and soul of this plot. All set out on a tray with a tray cloth. Pure white, lace –edged linen. The tray cloth was definitive. Padua was clearly a house where all these things, including the tray cloth, were part of every day life”. This was a super entertaining, fun, mysterious, and charming read. Love in different forms, from different angles, and stories in the little things lost. And then there is the Keeper of Lost Things, who knew how to connect the dots for those who needed to find ending in the clues. A dollop of magic realism strewn around London and Brighton. Mmmm .... spooky, sad, and funny.