The Library of Lost and Found

The Library of Lost and Found   by Phaedra Patrick   348 pages

When library volunteer Martha Storm discovers an unique collection of fairy tales dedicated to her by her grandmother, Zelda, predeceasing the woman's death, her journey to investigate the origins of the book leads her to discover what caused a rift that nearly tore her family apart years ago.

The pithy title does not redeem the content within. Much of the action is predictable, the dialogue stilted and unnatural. Everything about this book is old-fashioned, so when the author inserts a couple of contemporary notes - a subplot involving a lesbian couple, a reference to Spotify - it feels jarring. The book is longer than it needs be; for example, an eleventh-hour plot turn involving the old fisherman Siegfried could have been condensed or cut. Though the novel peripherally celebrates libraries and storytelling, the story it tells is too implausible.

By implausible, I mean the extreme contrivance of its central plot. The only way the entire story functions is that we believe the narrative conceit that Martha has never bothered, as an adult, to be suspicious of the fact that she couldn’t find her grandmother’s gravestone, and never bothered to search for it years later as an adult. It also expects us to believe that she never did a cursory Google search about her own family history, which could have easily dug up the details of a certain spoilery plot point...seriously, isn’t this an affront to anyone who works in a library?!!  

Posted by: Regina C.