BOOK CLUB: The Lost Girls

Author: Jennifer Spence
ISBN: 9781925791372
RRP: $29.99
Publication Date: February 2019
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copy: Courtesy of the Publisher

The Lost Girls was a captivating read that was nothing like what I expected. This was a book I read early in the month but life has given me a run for my money this month and I haven’t had a chance to sit and write any reviews. If I’m not careful my To Be Reviewed pile will catch up to the size of my To Be Read pile and that’s dangerous.

Jennifer Spence is an author I had not read before but I will definitely be keeping an eye out to read her again. The Lost Girls is a tale of love and loss that employs a story telling tool that is definitely not for everyone. I loved the way the book was written and the way it all played out but I did at times get caught up in the how. It’s difficult for me to decide what to say and what not to say because I am very conscious of spoilers, and that makes it tough.

Stella finds herself in a position to make changes to her life, an opportunity that we never really have; and one that we shouldn’t have because it’s disturbing to explore just how much can be affected by the smallest changes to everyday life.

I loved The Lost Girls, it was extremely thought provoking and has stayed with me since I finished reading. It has been compared to Sliding Doors, which is a movie I haven’t seen so can’t comment on; I find it reminiscent of The Butterfly Effect which is a darker tale of the affect changing the past has.

In the beginning I struggled a little with getting past the how, I’m a reader who needs to understand and I can only suspend disbelief so far. Once I realised there wasn’t going to be a satisfactory explanation for how I got so immersed in the story that it ceased to matter. In the end I think the lack of a how actually helped, I didn’t get weighed down in trying to work out the science of it all – it was one of those things that just was.

Stella finds herself in another time, in a familiar place, and though she is completely disoriented and uncertain of anything she knows she needs to tread carefully. She understands the havoc small changes could make. But she also knows that she lost someone so dear to her that she would do anything to save them.

Spence has not tried to come up with an intricate and believable how and why, she has left it completely unexplained and disconcerting for Stella so we feel that same sense of displacement with her as she tried to get her head around what is going on in her life and how it all works, but never finding the answers.

The tone of this tale is haunting and heart-breaking. The lengths some people will go to in the hopes of saving a loved one, the secrets hidden in our family trees and the massive changes that could be made by the tiniest decisions.

Simon & Schuster have stickered this one a Guaranteed Read, love it or your money back and I think they are right. This one is going to be a hit. I haven’t read Jennifer Spence before but I will be certainly looking out for her in the future.

The Lost Girls is published by Simon and Schuster and is available now were all good books are sold.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster 25 of our Beauty and Lace Club members will be reading The Lost Girls so please be aware there may be spoilers in the comments below.