The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick: A Review

“Sometimes there’s no right decision. Just the one you make at the time.”                – Phaedra Patrick, The Library of Lost and Found

Martha Storm, the lead character in The Library of Lost and Found, is a bit lost herself. She gave up a life of her own to look after her ailing parents and after their deaths, she fills her time by helping out others in any way she can. Her house has become overcrowded with projects she has taken on for others and she is repeatedly overlooked at the one thing she loves – her volunteer position at the local library. One night, someone leaves a mysterious book for Martha outside the library. It appears to be written by her beloved grandmother, but was published years after her grandmother supposedly died. Martha sets out to unravel the mystery of the book’s publication and along the way makes unexpected friends and uncovers many family secrets.

Moving between Martha’s present and her childhood, the story reveals the ways that her life has been shaped by her sense of duty to her family. Discovering her grandmother’s book serves as an awakening to Martha who has become a doormat to almost everyone in her life. Her attempts to understand what happened to her grandmother bring her face-to-face with aspects of her family she was completely unaware of and force her to question her relationships and her sense of self.  This novel would likely make a good summer read because it’s not too heavy and it has a sense of charm about it but it follows a lot of the tropes of so many contemporary novels where the quirky main character experiences a series of unlikely events and makes equally quirky friends. It’s a pleasant story but not particularly original. I would have liked Patrick to develop the backstories of her secondary characters further to develop more depth and interest. I think I was hoping for a story that was either more laugh-out-loud funny or heart-wrenching but in the end, the novel doesn’t really deliver either. It’s cozy and sweet but not the kind of book that will stick with you years from now.

If you’ve read anything by Phaedra Patrick, drop me a line and let me know what you thought. Until next time, happy reading!