The Library of Lost and Found

Published: Park Row
Date:  March 26th 2019
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 352
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss

I am always drawn to a book with the words library or book or bookshop in its title. Books on the cover also help. So even though I’d never come across a Phaedra Patrick book before, The Library of Lost and Found was a book that I knew had my name on it!

The main character is Martha Storm, and she is rather quirky. It took me awhile to work her out. She keeps lists, only has a part time job at the library, lives in a house that at first sight could belong to a hoarder. She is a people pleaser and allows others to walk all over her, with their requests. She doesn’t let others close.  So my question was “Who is she?” “Will I like her?”

When Martha finds a book on the doorstep of the library, it leads her to question the belief she has that her grandmother is dead. The book appears to be stories that her grandmother Zelda and Martha told when Martha was a child. But she died when Martha was thirteen – or did she?

As we track down the mystery with Martha we learn about her life at home as a youngster, the little stories she told, interspersed with the main text give us insight into what kind of home life she had. No wonder Martha is like she is.  But her inner spirit is quite different and slowly it emerges and the real Martha steps out.

I enjoyed the cameo minor characters, the unravelling of the mystery, the book references of course, and of the main characters finally returning “home”. And yes I ended up really liking Martha and being very hopeful for her future.