The Keeper of Lost Things

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The Keeper of Lost Things is a lovely story about the things and people we lose and the possibility of finding them again. And I’ve already put her new novel, The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes on my list for when I need a small dose of frothy, feel-good bookishness. Over the years they share their lives with Douglas and then Baby Jane, beloved dogs that rule the roost and eat a large amount of pastries.

The story of lost things was intended to be an insight into lost souls and self discovery but we felt that it was a very shallow exploration of this theme. When chemo kept me up all night I passed the time writing and the eventual result was THE KEEPER OF LOST THINGS, my first novel, which was published in January 2017, and has now been selected as a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. Please tell me I’m not the only reader with this issue as I already have too many as it is (books AND issues).Whilst owning Padua brings security and delight to Laura, the real prize turns out to be the task Anthony sets for it offers Laura a path toward resurrecting her life again, tenuously learning to trust people and connect with the world again. Having said that, the group did enjoy Anthony's imagined stories for each lost item and found them very creative (the ones highlighted in the discussion were the jigsaw piece and the umbrella).

He catalogues the exact place and moment he found them in hopes to one day reunite even one of them with their rightful owner.She does a really great job at helping the reader be present in the story and actually imagine being there with the characters. Very much a ‘light read’, we thought – but an interesting subject, well written, and the characters were good, Sunshine and Laura especially. 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. Our team is made up of book lovers who are dedicated to sourcing and providing the best books for kids.

Eunice leaves a dead end job and takes an exciting one in publishing with a witty and charismatic boss. In parallel with the memorabilia project, there is another story involving a book publisher Bomber, his assistant Eunice, and Bomber’s hilarious sister, Portia. I became immersed in learning about him, those connected with him, and the lives of those who lost the items. This is the first book I read in 2017 - and if another as good comes along in the next 12 months, I'll eat my special gold reviewing spectacles. Though Anthony's compulsion for collecting lost things to find peace and work through his grief did seem a bit over exaggerated eg a button isn't something people might even remember losing let alone try to find again.Then a chance encounter with two extraordinary women - the fabulous and wise Kitty Muriel, a convent girl turned magician's wife turned seventy-something roller disco fanatic, and the mysterious Sally Red Shoes, a bag lady with a prodigious voice - opens up a new world of possibilities, and the chance to start living again. He knows too well the pain of losing something dear, and knows the value in having something to hold onto. The unique theme focuses on a very intriguing obsession of hoarding lost objects - not in a manner similar to Museum of Innocence, which was for personal indulgence, but in the hope that the items could be reunited with their owners.

The Keeper Of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan starts by introducing the reader to elderly gentle man Anthony, a man living alone in a home he shared with his wife. The group felt that Laura in particular wasn't a very likeable character as she was quite self absorbed and self pitying. Brokenhearted, Anthony sought consolation in rescuing lost objects—the things others have dropped, misplaced, or accidentally left behind—and writing stories about them.

Excerpt from an interview with Ruth Hogan for those of us who like to know the inspiration for a story and just a teeny bit more: The Keeper Of Lost Things began with a single sentence that came into my head on a train journey and that sentence eventually became the first line of the novel. Interspersed throughout we have entrancing and shocking tales of some of the lost items, and the various situations that the owners found themselves in. It brings lots of tears, laughs and smiles, which probably made lots of folks on the trail I walk wonder what was going on with me. The story about to begin, will lead us into an universe where characters are knots merged in a web -- people crossing at due timings, showing that nothing happens by chance in this mysterious whole where we all interact, complementing each other, towards an incognito purpose -- something undefined, we feel bigger then us, where all those crossing paths will hopefully gain a common sense!