Everything you can imagine is real...

This novel tells the story of young David, stuck away in a rambling country house during the London Blitz. Mourning the recent loss of his mother and having difficulty adapting to his father's pregnant new girlfriend, David turns increasingly to a strange book of fairytales he finds in his room.

Fairly soon, the books on his bedroom bookshelf begin to whisper to him, of magic and darkness, of secret things. The real world and the world of David's fantasies begin to collide. This peculiar series of events culminates with the appearance of the Crooked Man, a sinister being who hails David as 'the New King'. It isn't long until David is hurled into a fairytale world (literally) and finds himself fighting for survival against weird and malevolent forces - and his own childhood.

Essentially, The Book of Lost Things is a coming of age tale, beautifully realised in a haunting, simplistic style reminiscent of old fables. The novel swiftly draws the reader into a thoroughly absorbing universe. If one forgives a slightly off-beat scene featuring none other than a corpulent, boorish Snow White, the entire novel flows brilliantly toward a satisfying climax. There are archetypes between these pages which will be as familiar to most readers as breathing, yet Connolly succeeds in presenting these myths in a new and original light.

Connolly sets out to show us the indistinct bridge between childhood and adhulthood, the nature of loss and acceptance, and the importance of dreams. The results quite simply left me breathless with wonder, remembering my own childhood - of all the things lost, and all the things found. A remarkable book.

The Exploding Boy 2007

Visit the website:

http://www.thebookoflostthings.com/

Great review, I must get a copy. Do you think it's largely a book for adults, about childhood, or does it bridge two audiences?

I think it bridges two audiences and works on two different levels, yes, but I think adults might get more out of it.

JB

Thanks for this, I've been wodering whether to get it or not, think I just might do now.

Katerina

Do you think it's largely a book for adults, about childhood, or does it bridge two audiences?

I read an interview in the weekend papers where the reporter had read a section to her 7yr old who practically wet the bed. Connolly did not recommend it for the pre-teens, and there was a consensus that you already need to be familiar with the classic fairytales to get the most out of it.


- NaomiM

Yes, I think that's also a fair assessment.

JB

I read and loved this book from the first page, but it's definitely not one for the kiddies, I'm afraid. There's some fairly graphic and gruesome violence and even at my age I found some of the scenes to be a little disturbing. Having said that, I think the book was all the more powerful for it. Just don't read it to any youngsters at bedtime or you'll scare the crap out of them.