The Lost Story

Once again, Meg Shaffer has put a smile on my face.

In her newest book, The Lost Story, two teenage boys named Ralph (Rafe) Howell and Jeremy Cox go missing in West Virginia’s fictional Red Crow State Forest during a field trip. Despite an exhaustive and thorough search they’re nowhere to be found, and after 6 months the worst is assumed - until one day they suddenly reappear.

Where have they been? One of them offers no answers and the other one doesn’t seem to have them to begin with. One thing is apparent: they don’t look like they’ve suffered malnutrition or significant harm. In fact, they’ve grown and look … stronger? 

Flash forward 15 years and Jeremy Cox is now specializing in finding missing girls and women, while his once best friend Rafe is pursuing his art after a more challenging recovery from those long ago events. The two boys had been so close, and Rafe can’t understand why Jeremy has kept his distance all these years.

When a young woman named Emilie seeks Jeremy’s help to find her sister Shannon, who went missing in Red Crow State Forest even before the two boys did, he reaches out to the one person he knows can help: Rafe. 

Why does he need him? Well, Rafe may not know it yet, but he and Jeremy know Shannon, and the only way to help Emilie find her sister is to re-enter the story they left 15 years ago in a magical place called Shanandoah. (Yes, that’s how the book spells it.) In looking for her, they may rediscover each other as well.

The rest of this journey is yours to take, should you choose to!

Can I just say that, though Meg Shaffer needs no comparison to another author,  if someone told me that she and TJ Klune were related, I’d believe them? They each understand how to build a character and relationship arc so beautifully that you feel almost instantly invested in the outcome of their characters’ journeys. They understand magical realism and giving just enough fantasy without leaving the real world behind. They can both write a coming-of-age tale that still feels adult. They can each take inspiration from a fairy tale, yet make a story that’s truly their own. They both show that love - romantic, familial or found family is what connects us. Best of all? They both seem to keenly understand the struggle and the beauty of being human.  I had the same feeling reading this as I did reading Klune’s Pinocchio-inspired In the Lives of Puppets last year. 

If you want a heartwarming book with delightful characters and a magical setting that encapsulates all those wonderful qualities and delivers it in a package with huge heart and intelligent humor, I highly recommend this, as well as the audio narrated so charmingly by Jorjeana Marie. Both formats are excellent. It’s the rare book that I wish had been longer, which is my highest compliment to an author!

★★★★ ½ 

P.S. Emilie's character LOVES Stevie Nicks. That's an automatic 5 stars from me right there. Just saying ... 🎤🎶

Thanks to Random House Publishing - Ballantine, NetGalley and author Meg Shaffer for this digital ARC to honestly review and to my library/Libby for the audio. It’s out now.