The Keeper of Lost Things: the perfect uplifting read - winner of the Richard & Judy Readers' Award and Sunday Times bestseller Paperback – 10 Aug. 2017

I loved The Keeper of Lost Things. Ruth Hogan’s writing is both engaging and deeply emotional, drawing the reader into a beautifully crafted story about love, loss, and redemption.The novel’s themes resonated with me, particularly the way it explores loss—not just of objects, but of people, memories, and opportunities. The interwoven stories of lost items initially took me by surprise, but once I adjusted to the structure, I found it to be a clever and touching way to show how small things can hold great significance.I connected most with Laura, but I also found the depiction of dementia especially poignant, as it captured the painful experience of watching a loved one fade from view. The book also made me reflect on unrequited love, as seen in Bomber and Eunice’s story, and the heartbreak of ignored wishes, particularly in the way Portia disregarded Bomber’s desires.While I loved the ending, I found myself wishing for more—perhaps a sequel or a glimpse into the characters’ future. I would recommend this book to fans of Jojo Moyes or anyone who enjoys emotional, character-driven fiction. As someone who primarily reads historical fiction, The Keeper of Lost Things was a bit of a departure for me, but I enjoyed it so much that I’m eager to explore more books in this style, including Ruth Hogan’s The Phoenix Ballroom.A truly touching and memorable read.

It is a strange beginning, with a tin containing someone’s remains being left on a train. I had largely forgotten this incident until the end of the book, it wasn’t something that drove my curiosity, as Anthony collected so many strange things I just thought it was something else. Anthony is the keeper of lost things referred to in the title and since the death of his wife, it appears to have consumed his life. We only really learn his motivation at the end of the novel. He has lost something that needs to be returned and in helping others, he hopes to find what he is looking for.Laura joins Anthony as his assistant after her husband leaves her and she needs to rebuild her confidence and find a job. When Anthony dies he leaves the house and his meticulously cataloged collection to her, on the understanding that she will endeavor to unite the owners with their lost property. After the funeral, Laura gains a new friend in Sunshine, a young woman with down syndrome who lives across the road. She is charming, thoughtful and loyal, with an element of psychic perception when it comes to the items which are lost. It is she that suggests Therese is unhappy and angry following Anthony’s death. Like Forrest Gump, there is a wonderful straightforward innocence about her which makes her both charming and endearing as a character.Freddie is the gardener who stays to look after the rose garden, again planted for Therese before Anthony died. Laura finds it difficult to accept anyone would like her after her husband left and initially tries to drive Freddie away. He helps her with the lost property website and eventually earns her trust.Eunice and Bomber form the second, parallel part of the story. Eunice applied for the job with the established publisher after becoming bored with her previous occupation. Despite the age difference, she spends over 30 years in his employ until his death. They form an abiding love and affection based on books and films. They laugh over Bomber’s sister Portia and her attempt to re-write Lady Chatterley’s Lover and then Jane Eyre. The funniest combination was the mixing of Harry Potter and 50 Shades which becomes a notorious bestseller, making her lavishly successful. When Bomber succumbs to Alzheimer’s it is to Eunice and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest that he turns. Under Portia’s direction, the funeral is an unintentional farce.The ending sees everyone’s lost property returned to them and Therese’s ghost finally finding the peace which she has sought. Despite finding the antic’s of Therese’s ghost bizarre, I thought the characters were all warm and interesting. I particularly liked Sunshine and was glad that disability was shown in such a positive light. Having a disability doesn’t mean that you can’t make a positive and enriching contribution to other people’s lives.

What a delightful read! I particularly enjoyed the caring and insightful portrayal of ‘dancing drome’. Sunshine shone throughout with the quirky humour of most Down’s people, and the other characters were rounded and well-observed. The tying-up of the ending was very clever and satisfying.

As a reader who generally gives a wide berth to any novel described as ‘charming’ or ‘heartwarming” I was pleasantly surprised by this quirky and mildly entertaining novel full of idiosyncratic turns of phrase and occasional moments of wisdom. Although I was unsure what to expect the intriguing opening chapters captured my attention and together with the original premise compelled me to read further. A dual narrative, one current and another beginning forty years earlier in 1974 follows, with the promise of seeing just how they marry up adding an element of mystery to proceedings as despite both being connected to the literary world their connection is far from self-evident..Since the demise of his much loved wife, Therese, short story novelist and panama wearing gent, Anthony Peardew, has spent his life seeking redemption for his broken promise when he lost the communion medallion that he promised his wife he would never be parted from. Since that day Anthony has gathered the lost things of others as a reminder and his only chance of atoning for his error. Home to his collection which has spanned forty years is a locked study where the items are labelled and stored within Padua, his splendid Victorian villa with a rose garden planted in memory of his wife. For Anthony, every object has a value far greater than money and that is a story and a memory and having parted from his publisher his short stories are woven from his collection of lost items and appear throughout the narrative. I was concerned that they might break up the overarching plot of the novel and make for disjointed reading however this proved unfounded as the pithy and increasing dark delights of just two to three pages were brilliant examples of flash fiction.Knowing his own demise is in sight has, however, given Anthony a purpose and his thirty-five-year-old divorced housekeeper of nearly six years, Laura, is the woman he chooses to fulfil it. Laura is floundering and desperately miserable after her cocksure and flashy older husband’s affair and her unfulfilled desire to have a child. Riddled with self-doubt and burdened by the misery of having failed to live up to her parents expectations Anthony and Padua provide her with hope and a much needed reason to live. Whilst the fear of failure has crushed her spirit in the past Anthony is leaving her a legacy and a mission to reunite just one rightful owner with their lost treasure and in doing make someone very happy. Weighed down by the enormity of the task and feeling unworthy of even attempting to fulfil his final wish she is aided by a cheeky house gardener, Freddy, and a lonely and innocent young Down’s Syndrome neighbour, Sunshine, with a psychic talent for knowing just where the items originally belonged! Soon a virtual lost property department online is born... But can Laura, Freddy and Sunshine resolve Anthony’s own loss of the medallion and in doing so bring the eerie goings at Padua to an end?In a second narrative beginning forty years previously, spirited and independent assistant to a movie obsessed and good-humoured publisher called Bomber follows twenty-one-year-old Eunice. As the course of their relationship progresses from employee and boss to an enduring friendship that each values immensely and survives the dire literary efforts of Bomber’s odious sister and the deaths of both his parents. Whilst Laura’s narrative and quest drive the story, the hijinks, warmth and mutual adoration of Eunice and Bomber means their story sits quietly in the background despite it often being the most droll and touching of the two strands.Parts of the novel were hit and miss for me with the romantic involvement of Laura and Freddy an unnecessary dose of chick-lit but but there were other pleasant surprises such as some lyrical turns of phrase full of wit and occasional moments of insight on the defining moments in every individual’s life. Whilst the portrayal of Alzheimer’s disease in one narrative was sympathetically treated, I was far less in favour of how Ruth Hogan addressed that of Down’s Syndrome and the comic character of Sunshine left me cringing as I felt she was deliberately designed to amuse, particularly with her frequent malapropism’s such as “dancing drome”. Bomber’s sister, Portia, is a little offensively over the top too and it is the characters of Laura, Eunice and Bomber that make a meaningful impression and are fleshed out in more rewarding detail. I was also left rather unmoved by Bomber’s canine companions and their ability to understand human conversations, which added nothing to the overall story.At three hundred pages The Keeper of Lost Things contains some moments of real predictability (Laura and Freddy’s romance and the happy ending), and so I was surprised that my attention never wandered despite the slow pace of the novel. Curiously entertaining, largely inoffensive and truly original, this is a tame and gently moving take of friendships, love, loss and the path to redemption. Whilst the lack of substance means I feel in no hurry to repeat the reading experience the novel stops short of becoming farcical and treads a fine line in an engaging and quirky story of relationships and a lifetime spent pondering on just what might have been.