The Book of Lost Friends - by Lisa Wingate (Hardcover)

Excellent book although sad.

This book was fascinating to me. Immediately, I became caught up in the split timeline and the characters and location of the story. History came alive as I read about Hannie's experience as a slave and later after the slaves were freed. I also enjoyed reading the more present day tale of Benny Silva's teaching experience in Louisiana. The Gossett family history was intriguing and kept me reading and entertained. I loved to see how it all tied together. Lisa Wingate's books have always been in my top favorites. She doesn't disappoint. She knows exactly how to pull the reader in and tell tales you'll never forget. I highly recommend her books. Each of them has a history lesson to be learned. If you love history, you'll love her books. I received this book courtesy of Lisa, the publisher and her launch team. I was not asked to review this book in a positive way. This is my honest opinion.

Our stories and the ones told by our families are the threads that weave us together as human beings! Lisa Wingate is a master at pulling all those threads together into a gripping tale. Hannie and Benny are two brave females that take us from the days of slavery to the 1980’s. They show us the history of a time and place that teaches us lessons we can use in our lives today! I recommend that you read this book.

Heartwrenching and beautiful, this story touched on so many emotions. Parallel stories in post-Civil War south and a young teacher in the 80s.  We follow three young women looking for family and property deeds and legal papers. During the search, they find themselves in danger and not knowing whom to trust. Along the way, they discover "Lost Friends" posts in papers and document many former enslaved people searching for family. Finding family and uncovering truths leads to many secrets. A young teacher, thrust into a classroom where children segregate themselves by class and color, tries to find a way to engage them with limited resources, children forgotten with lack of funding. Her project to get the children interested in their community, the past, and history, stirs up the surrounding area. What they uncover will forever change many and connect the dots to a part of history some would prefer to ignore. Hannie and Benny show us history cannot be swept away. This book serves to open eyes, hearts, and minds with understanding while educating us on a forgotten history in our country. May the stories not be forgotten, the names not left unuttered. **received an ARC from the publisher** 

I have to admit that it took me a little while to get into this novel, but it was well worth the investment of my time! The blending of historical fact with fiction is Lisa’s strong suit. Creating strong, memorable characters and story lines is her gift. I am consistently amazed how Lisa Wingate is able to create such fascinating stories based upon little-known historical events, create totally believable life-like, sympathetic characters then, as their stories unfold, make you feel as though you are experiencing the events of their lives right alongside them. At the end of Lisa's novels, I am always saddened that I’ll be losing touch with what have become beloved friends. Just as her previous New York Times best-selling novel, Before We Were Yours, brought to light a tragic period in our history involving an adoption scandal in Tennessee during the early part of the 20th Century, The Book of Lost Friends was sparked by the discovery of a project to preserve the records of freed slaves desperately seeking family members after the Civil War via letters (advertisements) placed in a magazine called the Southwest Christian Advocate which was circulated throughout the South. The ads were posted on bulletin boards and read at the pulpits of African-American churches in the aftermath of the Civil War. Freed slaves wrote what little they knew of their splintered families in the hopes that someone would help them reconnect with their lost loved ones. Some of these advertisements are included in the novel. The heartwarming stories woven around this theme are written with such compassion, authenticity, love and sincerity! In 1875, Hannie Gossett is a six-year-old slave child who witnesses her family being sold off by an unscrupulous family member of her plantation owner who thought he was sending them to safety in Texas. As the family is torn apart and sold off, Hannie listens as her mother recites their names, the names of those who took them and where each family member was taken. It is the only record Hannie has of her family. Before leaving her, Hannie is given a gift by her mother that will help her to identify other family members, should she be able to locate them at some future date. A series of events brings together Hannie, who, as a now freed slave is share-cropping on the plantation where she was raised hoping to one day own the land, Lavinia, the spoiled pampered daughter of Hannie’s former owner, and Lavinia’s creole half-sister, Juneau Jane, as they take on a quest that will affect each of their lives. Their journey is full of misadventure, danger and a series of events which bonds them together in unexpected ways. Along the way, they discover the Lost Friends advertisements. It is a heartrending and emotional story of three young women on an incredible journey. Bennie Silva is a new teacher working off her student loan debt by teaching in an underprivileged school located in Louisiana in 1987. Unable to motivate her students is a struggle when all that is expected of them is that they just show up at school on a semi-regular basis. Performance is not expected, nor encouraged. Bennie is determined to help her students become excited about learning. She finds a way to involve them in a project that captures their interest, though there are some in the town who feel threatened by the history it brings to light and work against her, making every effort to stop her. This is the type of story that deserves to be discovered by a new generation of readers as well as longtime lovers of historical fiction. It is captivating and intelligently written. As is not unusual with Lisa’s novels, it teaches, dispenses wisdom, captures your heart and makes you want to strive to be a better person. Listen, the road seems to admonish. Listen. I have stories.

I don't know if there is a book of Lisa's that I have not liked. I really liked Benny and enjoyed reading about her trying to get through to the kids she was teaching and what she did to make that happen. I also liked Hennie and cheered her on through her journey. I liked the symbol of the three blue beads and what they stood for. I thought the ending was appropriate although I would have loved to know just a little more about what happened with Benny and Nathan. Of course I loved the historical part of this book as well. History is my favorite thing. It is nice that Lisa brings these little now historical tidbits to life in her fiction stories that people may not have heard about otherwise. There is something about Lisa's books that you connect with the characters on a deeper level than most book. They always seem to bring some memory of your life to the surface and make you think. A great storyteller.

"Sad thing when stories die for lack of listenin' ears." Goswood Grove has myriads of stories begging to be released from beneath its former magnificence; they lie suffocating under covered furniture, imposing family portraits, and dusty tomes, for who is brave enough to search for them, much less tell them? Might a determined first year teacher, arriving in a town with so much blended ethnicity that everyone just might be kin to everyone else, be able to release the words in all their glorious ugliness and hopefulness, simply by inspiring her students to revel in the truth of their heritage? It's a challenge that she's willing to take. This isn't just a book, it's a volume of history. It's a story with a life of its own; living and breathing through the voices of its characters. It's injustice personified. It's divine providence recognized. It's hope. It's glory. It's life in American as it once was and by the grace of God Almighty will never be again. It's the "best of times". It's the "worst of times". It's time for the "book of lost friends" to be opened. "We die once when the breath leaves our bodies. We die a second time when the last person speaks our name." . . . . . "I remember you." I received a copy of this book from the author and publisher. The opinions stated above are entirely my own.

Heartfelt determination, grit, stamina, strength beyond words...that is how I think of the main characters in this amazing story. Two women from different eras connected through history, family and faith. Excellent. I received a complimentary copy of this book. No review was required.