The Lost Story

A Novel

De: Meg Shaffer

Narrado por: Jorjeana Marie

Duración: 10 h y 22 m

Resumen del Editor

Inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes—just in case—from the author of The Wishing Game.

“This is the book you’ve been waiting for.”—Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls and the North Bath Trilogy

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.

* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF that contains a map and recipes from the book.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2024 Meg Shaffer (P)2024 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“If our sad, brutal, cynical, cowardly, unkind, exhausting world is too much for you, 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. And here’s the real magic. When you return from that enchanted place to the world you wanted to escape from, you’ll find it’s changed. Why? Because you have.”—Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls and the North Bath Trilogy

“Jeremy, Rafe, and Emilie all embark on a wild and magical adventure that makes for a perfect cozy fantasy read, reminiscent of the childhood books we grew up loving.”—HuffPost

“This wildly imaginative book speaks to every reader who yearns for a more magical world.”—Thao Thai, author of Banyan Moon

Bummed.

I loved The Wishing Game. It will forever be one of my favorite books, paying homage to great works of children’s literature in a heartwarming and original tale with an embedded fictional world in Clock Island. So, I was anxiously awaiting The Lost Story’s arrival, and will fully admit that maybe my expectations were simply too high.

This book seems rushed in multiple ways. The first few chapters lay out an interesting cadence and several worthwhile plots from which to choose. But once in the “world,” it also seemed like it was a narrative descriptions of rules and next steps, rather than a rich experience. The interjections on how fairy tales work was humorous at first, but then it became redundant and compounded upon the idea that most of the book was just navigating the world.

Once the characters made their way to resolve the conflict, it was an absolute rush to the end. If you’re going to take the time to build a complex fantastical world, leave time to explore it. Any subplots or worthwhile twists were left on the table in favor of a fairly straightforward love story.

If you compare this to something like “Fairy Tale” by Stephen King, you’ll feel like you’re reading a poorly executed knock off. My guess is that, following The Wishing Game’s commercial success as a debut, an editor hacked at creative originality in favor of mass appeal page count, etc., and Meg’s concept is therefore diluted.

The contemplated world does have potential. This book just didn’t do enough to support it.

I couldn’t stop listening!

This book just grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go until it was over. I really enjoyed this story and the narrator.

Magic, but could use crafting.

I was very nervous that this book would fall into the same pitfalls that I struggled with for the novel The Wishing Game. I can see that the author is growing as a writer through each book. This one still could use some work, but I enjoyed the magic.

Exciting listen with phenomenal narration!

Thoroughly enjoyed this Meg Shaffer book and I must say she has never disappointed me. 😊

What could be better for the soul than to enjoy a modern fairy tale?

I feel incredibly blessed to have been present for a personal reading of a passage from this story on its launch day, in the back room of a lovely independent Carmichael's Bookstore in Louisville.

According to the author, this story took many years to write. All I have to say about that Is that every moment it took along the way to craft the perfect story was well worth it. Her investment of time, effort and talent in crafting this story of compassion, love, devotion, healing, growth, imagination, wonder, wander, and hope paid great dividends on each. Sadly, our modern world feels often bereft of these wonderful traits and it is good to be reminded that they are out there for the having, holding, and safe keeping of all who choose to believe in their value and virtue.

Thank you, Meg (Megalodon Shark) Shaffer for pouring yourself into this (and your other works), so we all get to sip.

The only thing this tale is lacking, is a series of sequels. I hope you choose to work on one so we all get to enjoy that as well.

For any who have read and enjoyed this book, I highly recommend you check out The Wishing Game. It is another work of hers which is also extraordinary.

Thank you Meg, it was wonderful to meet you and your husband at the launch event. I really, really enjoyed the book.
~Will~

Seriously disappointing gay/bisexual nonsense

This was not a magical story. Simply telling people that something “felt like magic” does not bring magic to your book. This needs to be labeled as gay or LGBT fiction because, in the end, that’s what the story was. I was seriously disappointed because I was expecting magic, hoping for magic, world building, and fun. This was a gay romance and it had no magic worth its salt. I felt no anticipation of the world of magic that is normally felt when some sort of magic is touted as a major plot point. Seriously disappointed.

Deceptive

This book is described as inspired by CS Lewis and “Narnia.”
C.S. Lewis did not write a gay love story filled with four letter words and jokes about masturbation. To market this book as a magical escape akin to that beautiful literature is frankly, obscene.
Lewis wrote his “Narnia’ books for children, but they can be appreciated by adults as well. No child should be subjected to this nonsense.
I have taught Lewis’ LWW as part of my curriculum for over a decade. To say this book was a sad disappointment after the hype is an understatement.
The narrator did a lovely job. She has beautiful articulation and cadence. I hope her next book is worthy of her talent.