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
