"Everything about the characters and the writing feels exactly right, and the result is a book that's heartbreaking and funny and brilliant" HERALD SUN

 

 

 

Sometimes you come across a book that will touch you deeply. Lost and Found is such a book.

 

I first picked this book up at the 2015 Sydney Writer's Festival. Brooke Davis was at the Glee Books stall signing copies. The cover design caught my attention; I'm afraid it's the covers that always catch my attention and if the blurb at the back is super interesting, I buy it. The blurb for Lost and Found certainly caught my attention. I purchased the book and Brooke signed it. We even had a chat about how she loved my overalls. When I got home I tucked it away into my bookshelf, alongside all the other books waiting to be read. I finally picked it up to read on the first day of Spring (2020). Lucky I did. I loved it.

 

I had always been intrigued by the story but if I had known how fabulous it would be, I wouldn't have waited five and a half years to read it. Either way, I'm glad I did. I enjoyed every minute I spent reading all about Millie with her corkscrew red hair and matching gumboots as I curled up in my wing chair. In fact, I devoured it ferociously.

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This wonderful, heartwarming story centres around seven-year-old Millie Bird. Millie is curious, creative and holds an innocence that you just want to bottle up and cherish forever. She is also obsessed with death and writes down incidents of death in her book of Dead Things that she carries around with her.

 

Millie has suffered a lot loss for one so young. She loses her dog Rambo, her father dies and then is separated from her mother. She teams up with two unlikely elderly adults to help her find her mum. Karl the Touch Typist, an 87-year-old nursing home escapee and 82-year-old Agatha Pantha, who likes to yell at people as they pass by her house.  

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Although the story does deal with some sad moments, Brooke handles it in a way that also makes you realise that life is full of joy and adventure and that we all have a chance to be happy a second time.

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I found the characters to be quirky and interesting. The character voices are strong and authentic. They come across as a kind of caricature which adds to the uniqueness of the story. Millie's voice sang out from the pages. I instantly fell in love with her. If I could, I would take Millie home.

 

Brooke dealt with uncomfortable topics such as death, abandonment, old age and loneliness with humour and profound honesty.

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The pace is fast and energetic and there is a cast of characters, including Manny the mannequin that keeps the stakes high for young Millie and her senior companions.

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I gave Lost and Found  5 stars

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