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

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If you are a lover of wonderfully told stories where people truly love one another, then this book is ever so right for you. It is told with such tenderness of a love story immersed within two love stories. It is a story of requited love and love that was felt but never could be carried through. It was a story of people, a bit broken at times, but with the strength and love we all possess and probably should show more of. Well, this is one of those books. An enchanting debut novel from Ruth Hogan about love, friendship and passion, life and afterlife, acceptance and endurance. There's a gorgeous cover to this book too which is becoming quite a trademark of this author, bright and colourful with little pictures of some of the 'lost' items dotted around the roses which they themselves are symbolic to the story. This novel was very unexpected- I not only mean the novel itself— but my enjoyment of absolutely EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. I consider myself to be a modern woman —- I rarely tap into an appreciation for people’s sentimental tchotchkes. I ‘did’ ......tap into my appreciation for the smallest ‘lost things’. Silly me! Darn....where is that hair clip I lost- which I use to love? Would one of you please return it to Westgate Ave. in San Jose? Thank you, kindly! Anthony Peardew collects lost items, catalogues them and stores them in his study hoping one day the thousands of objects will be reunited with their rightful owners. Knowing he is dying he bequeaths his house and all the lost treasures, to his assistant and friend Laura, the one person he knows who will carry out his wishes. However, unforeseen repercussions trigger some unanticipated series of encounters. As the threads of the story gradually pull together, questions are answered, lives are changed and the lost are found.

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!...

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This book was a real pleasure to read. It had a bit of everything, romance, ghostly presences, magic, mystery and clever literary references being just some. I enjoyed all of the characters especially Sunshine with her quirky speech and odd ways. Anthony Peardew has spent half his life collecting lost objects, trying to atone for a promise broken many years before. Forty years ago, he carelessly lost a keepsake from his beloved fiancée, Therese. That very same day, she died unexpectedly. Brokenhearted, Anthony sought consolation in rescuing lost objects, the things others have dropped, misplaced, or accidentally left behind, and writing stories about them. Now, in the twilight of his life, Anthony worries that he has not fully discharged his duty to reconcile all the lost things with their owners. As the end nears, he bequeaths his secret life’s mission to his unsuspecting assistant, Laura, leaving her his house and and all its lost treasures, including an irritable ghost. Now I'm no stranger to alliteration and similes and I understand the purpose that they serve. However, Hogan took this TOO FAR. Everything was an alliteration - Poisonous Portia, Slinked seductively into the salon (everything was alliterated, all the time!) and the clichés were never-ending. The dialogue was nothing short of embarrassing, 'Liar Liar Pants on Fire!' Etc etc. I don't think anyone speaks to friends and family like that. I really appreciated the meanings and morals behind this story. This is a multi-perspective, multi-timeline read with all the feels! Sometimes when you are reading a book, you feel you want to join the characters, have some tea and biscuits with them, share their laughter and sorrows and cheer them in their journeys, be a part of them, be with them. And when you read the final chapter, the final sentence, and you see THE END, you feel miserable that the time has come for you to say your farewells.

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! Then, he decides to pass his huge collection on to his house assistant and asks her to make sure everything finds its home, and this is when the story began unravelling to me, because she accepts this challenge as a way to make up for her being a huge disappointment to her parents? Objects spread among red roses, each of them enclosing a beautiful sad story -- roses with thorns -- fictions grazing anonymous truths -- episodes of someone’s real life. The blurb is longgggg....and explains the book. I'm just adding the first introductory paragraph here:Recovering from a bad divorce, Laura, in some ways, is one of Anthony’s lost things. But when the lonely woman moves into his mansion, her life begins to change. She finds a new friend in the neighbor’s quirky daughter, Sunshine, and a welcome distraction in Freddy, the rugged gardener. As the dark cloud engulfing her lifts, Laura, accompanied by her new companions, sets out to realize Anthony’s last wish: reuniting his cherished lost objects with their owners.

Anthony had made her tea at the interview. He had brought it into the garden room; teapot with cozy, milk jug, sugar bowl and tongs, cups and saucers, silver teaspoons, tea strainer and stand.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! Oh my gosh..... please enjoy your favorite drink tea ‘ properly ‘ when you read this novel .....Ha.... Ever since I finished it, I've been puzzling over why this novel irked me so, because I do enjoy the occasional light and fluffy book. Was it the simple writing? The one-dimensional characters? The bad dialogue? The poorly constructed mystery? The too-sweet ending? Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart. Once in-awhile a book comes along that feels a little lacy, dressy, decorous, cultivated, rosy, sweet, courteous, cordial, romantic, a little mysterious, quirky, touching, sad, humorous, warm, cozy, and loving. AND YOU’RE UP FOR THE TASK!

I started to really worry about the book when it became clear that there would be no shift in the narrative voice whatsoever - and what I mean by that is that, when the little 'stories behind the items' were included, they were narrated in the exact same manner as the text that had come before it, with Laura in centre stage. Given that they were supposed to have been written by Anthony, this was a grievous mistake. 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. Lime green plastic flower-shaped hair bobbles—Found, on the playing field, Derrywood Park, 2nd September. 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.

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’ll always wonder when I look down and see little lost objects that we sometimes run across, about the person who lost it . 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. To top it all off, most of the characters are one dimensional - all good or all bad. Some version of "a lovely cup of tea" was mentioned 22 times. He gives these *things* a home, and respects their history. He catalogues the exact place and moment he found them in hopes to one day reunite even one of them with their rightful owner.