Book Review: The Book of Lost Friends

The Book of Lost Friends

A Novel

by Lisa Wingate

Random House Publishing Group — Ballantine

Ballantine Books

Historical Fiction

Pub Date 07 Apr 2020

I am reviewing a copy of The Book of Lost Friends through Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine Books and Netgalley:

Lisa Wingate does it again, creating a powerful novel, set in dual times, that leaves you feeling as if you are there amongst the characters.

Based on the actual Lost Friends advertisements placed in Newspapers by Freed Slaves after the Civil War, during the reconstruction period, once again Lisa Wingate’s brings voices from the past to life, though this is a fictionalized account the Lost Friends advertisements placed in Newspapers were very real.

This book takes place in both 1870’s Louisiana, and 1980’s Louisiana.

During the tumultuous aftermath of the Reconstruction, in Louisiana 1875, three young women unwillingly set off as companions on a dangerous quest, Laivina, the pampered heir to a plantation that is now destitute, Juneau Jane, Laivina’s freeborn, creole half-sister and. Hannie Laivinia’s former slave. They each carry private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for…