
Author: Kirsten Alexander
Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Mar. 10, 2020
Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback, ARC
Source: HBG Canada
Book Rating: 8/10
Perfect for fans of the NYT bestseller Sold on a Monday, this Southern historical novel based on the true story of a boy’s mysterious disappearance examines despair, loyalty, and the nature of truth. Originally published in Australia as Half Moon Lake.
In 1913, on a summer’s day at Half Moon Lake, Louisiana, four-year-old Sonny Davenport walks into the woods and never returns.
The boy’s mysterious disappearance from the family’s lake house makes front-page news in their home town of Opelousas. John Henry and Mary Davenport are wealthy and influential, and will do anything to find their son. For two years, the Davenports search across the South, offer increasingly large rewards and struggle not to give in to despair. Then, at the moment when all hope seems lost, the boy is found in the company of a tramp.
But is he truly Sonny Davenport? The circumstances of his discovery raise more questions than answers. And when Grace Mill, an unwed farm worker, travels from Alabama to lay claim to the child, newspapers, townsfolk, even the Davenports’ own friends, take sides.
As the tramp’s kidnapping trial begins, and two desperate mothers fight for ownership of the boy, the people of Opelousas discover that truth is more complicated than they’d ever dreamed.
Review:
Engaging, unsettling, and thought-provoking!
Lost Boy Found is a compelling story that sweeps you away to Louisana during the early 1900s and delves into the anxiety and terror experienced when a mother’s worst nightmare comes true and explores the physical, psychological and emotional extremes parents are willing to take in order to find their child and bring them home safely.
The writing is descriptive and didactic. The characters are despondent, anxious, and relentless. And the plot is a harrowing tale about life, loss, heartbreak, familial dynamics, hope, manipulation, corruption, prejudice, class division, ethics, and morality.
Overall, Lost Boy Found is a heart-sickening, twisty tale by Alexander that does a beautiful job of expressing the emotional devastation and shocking injustice that actually occurred in the real-life tragedy that inspired it.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.
Thank you to HBG Canada for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.