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

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The only promise that Therese had ever asked of him, and he had failed her. And so he had started to gather the things that other people lost. It was his only chance for atonement.” I listened to the audio version of The Keeper of Lost Things and the narrators were fantastic. There are two story lines, with the present day story featuring Laura, divorced, treated badly by her ex-husband, feeling like she spent years letting her parents down, now working happily as an assistant for Anthony Peardew, a successful writer and a keeper of lost things. Heavy on Anthony's heart, aside from the fact that his fiance died many years ago, before they could get married, is that he lost something very dear to her the day she died. That loss, both losses, led him to the obsessive and meticulous collecting of lost things, cataloging them and caring for them, in the hopes that his lost thing would be found and cared for also. When Anthony dies, he leaves everything to Laura, with his last wishes being that she attempt to find the owners of the lost things and that she befriend his neighbor, Sunshine. Laura, a young woman who is working for this Keeper of Lost Things since the day she spotted the want ad that Anthony Peardew had placed. She was once lost, herself, but Anthony helped her to reunite with her true self, and not the one others had tried to form her to be. He knows too well the pain of losing something dear, and knows the value in having something to hold onto. 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. Because the characters don't have to work for the information, the novel's progress doesn't feel satisfying.

A minor caveat: I couldn't finish the book. I stopped at about a third of the way in and then looked up a summary of the plot online. And am I glad I did. Obvious and bland. 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. That said, many of my book friends loved this one, and I can see why. I’d still recommend giving this a shot when you’re in the mood for a gentler read, if only to witness its generous amounts of creativity. Hope you enjoy!I loved the unusual and funny names the author used in her book and the individual characters are definitely unique and perfectly suited to her stories. I adored teenager 'Sunshine' who had Down Syndrome or as she calls herself a 'dancing drome', she was the star of the book for me, witty, honest without censor and with a very special gift indeed. Long ago, Eunice found a trinket on the London pavement and kept it through the years. Now, with her own end drawing near, she has lost something precious—a tragic twist of fate that forces her to break a promise she once made. 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”.

But, like objects, people do not stay around forever, and Anthony eventually leaves this ongoing quest in the capable hands of his caretaker, Laura, who appears equally as “lost” as his beloved objects.

I found myself growing bored, waiting for a captivating moment that never came. The delicate romance was sweet and kept me hopeful, but nothing seemed to deliver on what felt promised. 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." The Keeper of Lost Things is an enchanting story about love, loss, friendship, and healing. A wonderful cast of endearing, quirky characters made this book a pleasure to read! 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.

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