Tuesday, April 7, 2020

The Book of Lost Friends: rediscovering lost family histories


The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate is a story of recovering history when time and people have long buried it. The story opens with a young girl, as she prepares to make an important speech, and her teacher who encourages her to be a voice for those lost. Rewind to Louisiana, 1875 as Hannie Gossett, 18, wakes from a vivid and recurring dream of when her family was torn apart. She lives on an old plantation which used to see grander days. She soon finds herself on a journey that takes her far from her home and on a path to a new beginning. The next chapter opens with Benedetta “Benny” Silva in Augustine, Louisiana, 1987. She is having a horrible beginning to her first day as a teacher. She tries to teach her students; but they aren’t interested in the symbolism of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Switching between Hannie in 1875 and Benny in 1987, the two timelines emerge as Hannie searches for a missing person, she begins to collect the names of lost family members for people she meets on her journey, in hopes to reunite families as well as finding her own. Benny struggles to find a way to reach her students when a chance discovering of an old family Bible and leather ledger sends Benny and her students on a history lesson that threatens to shake the status quo.


The Book of Lost Friends is inspired by the real letters from the “Lost Friends” column of the Southwestern Christian Advocate which published letters from freed slaves looking for their families. It was a piece of history that I wasn’t not aware of and was interested to read as Ms. Wingate uses the actual letters from the column. The book is essentially about remembering those who came before us as the main theme can be found in this quote: “We die once when the last breath leaves our bodies. We die a second time when the last person speaks our name.” This theme reminded me of the second death seen in Disney’s Coco (2017). The book is very slow moving as it switches between timelines. It isn’t clear how the two are connected until about three-quarters into the story. It truly didn’t become interesting until the connection is made between the timelines and the action speeds up. It was hard to connect with the characters. I found Hannie to be the most interesting and a bit surprising as she finds herself in situations that she must learn to adapt on the fly. I found Benny to be a bit naïve and dim. She was the stereotypical first year teacher who was going to have an impact on her students. She seems at a loss when her first attempts fail miserably. Some of the conflict which I thought would boil over and cause a big “battle” fizzled and the “villains” of the story essentially would just be feared from afar. Overall, I enjoyed the book as a piece of history is used to tell the lost family history of many black families. And if readers are willing to stick with it, I think they will find that they will enjoy it too. I recommend The Book of Lost Friends.

The Book of Lost Friends
is available in hardcover, paperback, eBook, and audiobook

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