The Lost Story: A Novel

Meg Shaffer

Jul 2024 · Sold by Ballantine Books

About this ebook

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes—just in case—from the author of The Wishing Game.

“This is the book you’ve been waiting for.”—Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Empire Falls and the North Bath Trilogy

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.

Ratings and reviews

God this was such a fun read! It's always a treat to read books set in Appalachia, especially fantasy - it reminds me of my childhood thinking about all the magic in the forest around papaw's cabin, the feeling of flying on grape vines during woodcutting season. It really is a place where you could imagine something like this happening, old magic working in its own way. I'll be reccomending this to my mom and some friends back home who will hopefully enjoy the book as much as I did! Thank you for writing something so beautiful. ❤️

A story, a fairy tale, a fairy tale story within a story. Whichever you call it, The Lost Story is a fabulous book. Two teen boys lost in a forest kingdom-one cannot remember it, the other cannot forget or talk about it. The one who remembers can find lost women and girls, The one who cannot remember paints pictures and creates sculptures depicting the kingdom. When approached by a woman to find her lost sister in the same forest, the boys reunite after fifteen years and the fairy tale begins. A wonderful, fantastical novel. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

🌿A fantasy delight🦄 I'll admit that I was expecting big things and a great story after reading Meg Shaffer's previous novel. I feel she definitely met my expectations with this fantasy tale of enduring love, family and friendship. I was quickly drawn into both worlds by the plot and characters, particularly Rafe and Jeremy's part of the tale. This was a quick read because I just couldn't lay it down!

About the author

Meg Shaffer is the USA Today bestselling author of The Lost Story and The Wishing Game, which was a Book of the Month finalist for Book of the Year, a Reader’s Digest and Washington Post Best Book of the Year, and has been translated into 21 languages. Meg holds an MFA in TV and Screenwriting from Stephens College. She lives in Kentucky with her husband and two cats. The cats are not writers.