The Lost Girls: A Novel

by Heather Young Narrated by Alice Rosengard, Laurel Schroeder

Overview

A stunning debut novel that examines the price of loyalty, the burden of regret, the meaning of salvation, and the sacrifices we make for those we love, told in the voices of two unforgettable women linked by a decades-old family mystery at a picturesque lake house.

In 1935, six-year-old Emily Evans vanishes from her family's vacation home on a remote Minnesota lake. Her disappearance destroys the family-her father commits suicide, and her mother and two older sisters spend the rest of their lives at the lake house, keeping a decades-long vigil for the lost child.

Sixty years later, Lucy, the quiet and watchful middle sister, lives in the lake house alone. Before her death, she writes the story of that devastating summer in a notebook that she leaves, along with the house, to the only person who might care: her grandniece, Justine. For Justine, the lake house offers freedom and stability-a way to escape her manipulative boyfriend and give her daughters the home she never had. But the long Minnesota winter is just beginning. The house is cold and dilapidated. The dark, silent lake is isolated and eerie. Her only neighbor is a strange old man who seems to know more about the summer of 1935 than he's telling.

Soon Justine's troubled oldest daughter becomes obsessed with Emily's disappearance, her mother arrives to steal her inheritance, and the man she left launches a dangerous plan to get her back. In a house haunted by the sorrows of the women who came before her, Justine must overcome their tragic legacy if she hopes to save herself and her children.

Editorial Reviews

The New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio

For all the beauty of Young's writing, her novel is a dark one, full of pain and loss. And the murder mystery that drives it is as shocking as anything you're likely to read for a good long while.

Seattle Times

Vivid and suspenseful.

New York Times Book Review

The delicacy of [Young’s] writing elevates the drama and gives her two central characters depth and backbone…And the murder mystery that drives [THE LOST GIRLS] is as shocking as anything you’re likely to read for a good long while.

Miami Herald

Suspenseful ... Young juggles each narrative skillfully, noting the terrible ways in which secrets and evasions shape our lives — and how even when it seems unlikely, redemption is always possible.

Tara Conklin

Riveting...Told with finesse and an unflinching eye, THE LOST GIRLS examines the bond between sisters, what it means to keep a promise, and how one family’s secrets can stretch across generations.

Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

THE LOST GIRLS follows sixty years in one bloodline...As the twisting tale unfolds, hidden secrets, scandals and sorrows are revealed as we discover what really happened to Emily; the truth offers up reconciliation, and, ultimately, redemption for all of the women left in her wake.

Vanessa Diffenbaugh

I was swept into THE LOST GIRLS on the very first page...Heather Young weaves a captivating, multi-layered story that you won’t want to put down.

Alice Mattison

Heather Young’s clear, unsentimental writing is bracingly observant, psychologically astute, and suspenseful. Her characters include people who cannot love, people who destroy what they love-and people who slowly, agonizingly, figure out what love actually is. From its opening...to its troubling, thrilling conclusion, I found this novel irresistible.

Ivy Pochoda

Heather Young is a master weaver of plot, time, and character. Her prose is confident, her story ambitious. The result -- THE LOST GIRLS -- is a haunting and dynamic debut that never falters.

Jennifer McMahon

Heather Young has crafted a gorgeous book that moves artfully back and forth through time, weaving a suspenseful tale steeped in generations of family secrets. Places hold memories, The Lost Girls reminds us so beautifully; places shape us, bind us, haunt us, but sometimes, they can redeem us, too.

Bookreporter.com

Beautifully written, THE LOST GIRLS will please suspense fans as well as those who love redemptive fiction. This is a big, bold, heart-wrenching book reminiscent of novels by Jodi Picoult, and is an excellent debut.

Booklist

Suspenseful and finely wrought, Young’s tale is not easily forgotten.

Toronto Star

Young does a masterful job contrasting Lucy’s long-ago summer, her last happy one, with Justine’s dawning knowledge of how the effects of a family tragedy echo down through the years.

San Jose Mercury News

A taut, intricately plotted novel.

Bustle

This book has it all — intrigue, complicated relationships, and a thrilling plotline — and it will appeal to fans of long-spanning ‘90s stories like Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias (yes that came out in ‘89 but you totally had the VHS in the ‘90s).

Minneapolis Star Tribune

A novel of quiet intensity that builds to a terrifying climax. THE LOST GIRLS contains echoes of Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories and is just as haunting.

Library Journal

02/01/2016
Lucy still lives at the lakeside Minnesota vacation home where little sister Emily disappeared six decades earlier. Now she's written an account of that event and willed it and the house to grandniece Justine, who's happy for a place to hide with her daughters from her abusive boyfriend. But Justine doesn't know how dark the coming winter will be. With a 50,000-copy first printing.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170211739
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	07/26/2016
Edition description:	Unabridged

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