“If you never get sadness, how do you know what happy is like?”

For the first time in months I don’t have any library books in my house so I am desperately trying to get through my TBR shelf before once again succumbing to the siren call of Barnes & Nobel. The Keeper of Lost Things was gifted to me during last year’s Cannonball gift exchange and I can’t believe it took me almost 7 months to read because it was an absolutely charming novel.

Lime green plastic flower-shaped hair bobbles—Found, on the playing field, Derrywood Park, 2nd September.

Forty years ago Anthony Peardew lost a medallion his fiance gave him; on the same day he lost his precious keepsake he lost the love of his life in a tragic accident. Since that day he has devoted himself to becoming the Keeper of Lost Things by collecting discarded items and cataloging them in his office. Anthony, an author, uses these objects as inspiration for popular short stories but never tells anyone about his secret mission. Now an old man Anthony has to find someone to take over his passion project and he entrusts his life’s work, upon his death, as well as the entirety of his estate, to his recently divorced assistant Laura.

Bone china cup and saucer—Found, on a bench in Riveria Public Gardens, 31st October.

Laura, who had no idea what her boss was up to behind his closed office door, is blown away by the monumental task she has inherited but feels obligated to do her best to honor Anthony’s wishes. So Laura, along with Sunshine, a neighbor girl with Down Syndrome and a bit of a sixth sense, and the gardener, Freddy, sets up a website to reconnect these lost items with their owners.

Charles Bramwell Brockley was traveling alone and without a ticket on the 14:42 from London Bridge to Brighton. The Huntley & Palmers biscuit tin in which he was traveling teetered precariously on the edge of the seat as the train juddered to a halt at Haywards Heath. 

But The Keeper of Lost Things is not just Laura’s story it is also Eunice’s story. Unlike Laura, whose narration is set primarily in the present day, Eunice’s chapters span decades beginning in 1974 when she finds a small trinket on her way to a job interview that will change her life forever. Eunice’s story focuses primarily on her relationship with her gay boss, Bomber, who she is in love with. Eventually both women’s story intersect is an utterly predictable but perfectly delightful ending.

Hogan is a talented writer who managed to weave a little bit of magic with a lot of heart into relatively few pages. At first I was a little bothered by the structure of having Laura in the present and Eunice is the past but Hogan knew what she was aiming for and she hit the mark perfectly.