'This wildly imaginative book speaks to every reader who yearns for a more magical world' - THAO THAI, author of Banyan Moon
'If you'd like to dream instead of a parallel world where love and loyalty and friendship are the magic that transforms the least of us into genuine heroes, then Meg Shaffer's The Lost Story is the book you've been waiting for' - RICHARD RUSSO, author of Empire Falls
From the author of the bestselling novel The Wishing Game comes a Narnia-inspired fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobe doors . . . just in case.Once upon a time, two boys went missing in the woods. Six months later, they reappeared, with no explanation for where they'd been or how they'd survived.
Fifteen years on, Rafe is a reclusive artist with no memory of what happened during those months, despite the scars he bears. Meanwhile, Jeremy is a famed missing persons investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her long-lost sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.
Jeremy also keeps a secret: the fantastical truth about the magical realm they made home for those six months. And it's there they may find Emilie's sister.
Alongside Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they left behind - for only then can they get back everything and everyone they've lost.
'Wholly moving . . . reminded me that even as an adult, if you look hard enough, you can find the child still inside you' -
Jodi Picoult, author of Mad Honey, on The Wishing Game'A heartwarming, page-turning story of found family [and] love triumphing over indifference' -
Melissa Albert, author of The Hazel Wood, on The Wishing Game'A dreamy, inventive novel . . . Full of the power of imagination, it's one of my favourite books of the year' -
Sarah Addison Allen, author of Other Birds, on The Wishing Game'A meditation on the power of hope when all else seems lost' -
Kirkus Reviews on The Wishing Game
From the author of cult favourite The Wishing Game comes a Narnia-inspired fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobe door . . . you know, just in case.
Fifteen years ago, two boys went missing at a state park in West Virginia. Six months later they mysteriously reappeared. Jeremy wouldn't say where they went and Rafe was unable, having no memory of their time lost in the woods though he bears terrible scars on his back that no one can explain.
Now adults, Jeremy is a missing persons investigator with an uncanny ability to find lost and kidnapped girls. Meanwhile, Rafe has become a recluse, an artist unable to stop creating fantastical paintings and sculptures he shows to no one.
When Emilie goes to Jeremy, seeking help for her older sister who was kidnapped eighteen years earlier, he recognizes her as the girl he's been questing for all these years. Emilie is the lost princess of Shanandoah, and her sister is the Queen of the fantasy world where he and Rafe spent those six magical months when they were missing.
Their return should have been a joyful one but when they arrive, they learn an old foe of Rafe's has returned and only he can save them all and their world . . . but only if he can remember who he truly is. Only then will they get back everything and everyone they've lost.
