Date of Reading: 21/04/2022
Author: Helen Paris
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: April 14, 2022
Rating: 4/5
(This review is part of the blog tour organised by Random Things Tours)
About the book:
Dot Watson has lost her way.
Twelve years ago her life veered off course, and the guilt over what happened still haunts her. Before then she was living in Paris, forging an exciting career; now her time is spent visiting her mother's care home, fielding interfering calls from her sister and working at the London Transport Lost Property office, diligently cataloguing items as misplaced as herself.
But when elderly Mr Appleby arrives in search of his late wife's purse, his grief stirs something in Dot. Determined to help, she sets off on a mission - one that could start to heal Dot's own loss and let her find where she belongs once more...
Review:
This was a hard nut to crack, just like Dot Watson's life. Lost just like the items in the Lost Property, we are to pick up the clues just like a Sherlock Holmes mystery. A demanding task, considering the fact that Dot is an unreliable narrator. I felt her be too judgemental and prone to easy conclusions, most of them far from the mark too. Glad to see that I was right in the end.
The first part of the book was a tad bit slow (was even thinking of giving up), but my perseverance was rewarded. Potential readers, consider yourself to be warned. The pain spikes up in the second part of the story. One by one, the mysteries of the past are revealed and we are left bereaving only to find hope when all doors seemed to be closed.
The uncanny similarity in the lives of Dot and Sylvia Plath is hard to be ignored. Dot had everything ready for the life ahead. She is proficient in multiple languages and her travel dreams are about to bloom. Everything is set off course when her father kills himself. Shelving her future plans, she takes a job at the lost property office, oblivious to the fact that the truth could be different from what she believes. This is her story of rediscovery, finally coming to terms with the grief and guilt she kept close to her heart.
Aside from Dot, the one I liked most is Philippa. Being an elder sister, I could understand what she is going through from the very beginning. Protecting younger siblings from the harsh realities of the world tends to result in a backlash. As for their parents, they deserve a story of their own . . . with a better ending that is.
On the whole, a heartbreaking but inspiring story that pushes you to move forward. Well, don't forget to keep your tissues at hand, you are definitely going to need them.
Favourite quotes:
"Life gives us so much, . . . chance, excitement and hope. But woven through it all is loss. If you try to pull out that thread, the whole thing unravels. Loss is the price we pay for love"
". . . just as objects cannot replace people, guidebooks are not destinations. However, I will never forget their ability to inspire, to educate."
Meet the author:
Helen Paris worked in the performing arts for two decades, touring internationally with her London-based theatre company Curious. After several years living in San Francisco and working as a theatre professor at Stanford University, she returned to the UK to focus on writing fiction. As part of her research for a performance called 'Lost & Found', Paris shadowed employees in the Baker Street Lost Property office for a week, an experience that sparked her imagination and inspired this novel.
Lost Property is her first novel.
