The Book of Lost Friends

The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate. Ballantine Books, 2020.  400 pages *****


Alternating between two main characters and two time periods, Wingate crafts a novel that pulls you in and won't let you go.

Lousiana, 1875: In the tumultuous era of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Hannie, a freed slave; Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now destitute plantation; and Juneau Jane, Lavinia’s Creole half sister. Hannie is searching for her family members sold by an unscrupulous relative of her master many years ago. Her Mother gave her and her siblings three blue glass beads so they would know each other if they were freed. Juneau Jane and Lavinia are looking for their father to clarify intentions as to his estate. He disappeared while searching for his wayward son who is always one step ahead of the law. Two young women learn to depend upon each other for survival, especially when the third one is attacked, brutalized and loses her mind.

Louisiana, 1987: For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt—until she lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town. Her students are uninterested in anything academic until Benny involves them in their family history and the cemetery behind her rented house. The townspeople of Augustine, Louisiana, are suspicious of new people and new ideas and not happy to have their family histories of slavery, illegitimate children, and interracial marriages brought to light.

I love Wingate's writing, the individual voices of her characters, her depth of research and the unveiling of a difficult story. Hannie and Benny are such strong women who overcome the hands that they are dealt. Even with all of the hardships, both are willing to risk it all and open their hearts to create the family that they wished they had.  I was able to lose myself in this book for two days during this self-isolating/social distancing time.

I recieved an ecopy for a review.

Lisa Wingate is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Before We Were Yours, which remained on the bestseller list for fifty-four weeks in hardcover and has sold over 2 million copies. She has penned over thirty novels and coauthored a nonfiction book, Before and After with Judy Christie. Her award-winning works have been selected for state and community One Book reads throughout the country, have been published in over forty languages, and have appeared on bestseller lists worldwide. The group Americans for More Civility, a kindness watchdog organization, selected Lisa and six others as recipients of the National Civies Award, which celebrates public figures who work to promote greater kindness and civility in American life. Booklist summed up her work by saying, “Lisa Wingate is, quite simply, a master storyteller.” She lives with her husband in North Texas.
For more inofrmation on Lisa,  https://lisawingate.com

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