Monday, July 29, 2019

Time to get "lost" in a historical novel

I was looking through Mt. TBR and Mt. Finished over the weekend and noticed a certain title pattern coming up.


The word "lost," of course, prompts questions: why did she/it/they disappear?  What were the circumstances behind it?  How will they be found?  Sometimes the book itself answers the question; Cecily Ross's novel includes the imagined contents of Susanna Moodie's personal journals. In Fitch's novel, the poetic title reflects the losses felt by St. Petersburg during the Russian Revolution and subsequent civil war, and the heroine's remembrances of her earlier life.

All of these evoke a sense of mystery about the past that appeals to historical fiction readers.

Most of these books were published in the last year or two. What others can you think of?

8 comments:

  1. I recently read "The Lost Vintage" by Ann Mah which was OK, and "The Keeper of Lost Things" by Ruth Hogan which I liked a lot. "Long Time Lost" by Chris Ewan was good, but not "City of the Lost" by Kelley Armstrong. Looking forward to reading "The Lost Empress" by Steve Robinson, a genealogy mystery. Title keywords are always fun to explore!

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    1. I had forgotten about The Lost Vintage, which I'd read as an ebook. I agree, it was OK. Other historicals I'd read in e-format (so, no way to include them in the book pile!) were Kris Waldherr's The Lost History of Dreams and Signe Pike's The Lost Queen, both very good.

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    2. Pike's "The Lost Queen" is on my TBR, looking forward to it!

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    3. I enjoyed it - and hope I still remember the story by the time the next book comes out!

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  2. I've read and enjoyed all of these: The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff (2019), The Lost Valley by Jennifer Scoullar (2018), The Lost Castle by Kristy Cambron (2018), The Lost Pearl by Emily Madden (2018), The Lost Village by Neil Spring (2017) and Lost Among the Living by Simone St.James (2016).

    I loved Iona Grey's Letters to the Lost and I'm looking forward to reading Jillian Cantor's The Lost Letter.

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    1. What a great list of "lost" books. I haven't read any of them yet.

      I've been looking for The Lost Pearl (which has a great cover) but it's not easy to obtain in the US.

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  3. Anonymous4:31 PM

    The Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly (and don't even get me started on how improbable the Russian portion of the plot was). The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore.

    Sarah OL

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    1. I had completely forgotten about Lost Roses. Of course. I've heard mixed reports at best.

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