The Lost Story is a 2024 book release from Meg Shaffer, the USA Today bestselling author of The Wishing Game, which was a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist and a Reader’s Digest Best Book of the Year. She holds an MFA in TV and Screenwriting from Stephens College. Shaffer lives in Kentucky with her family.
Fifteen years ago, 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. Now Rafe is a reclusive artist with mental health issues from an unhealed past, and he has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator.
When vet tech Emilie Wendell requests Jeremy’s help in finding her sister Shannon, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy twenty years earlier, Jeremy is easily persuaded. Jeremy alone knows the incredible truth about the disappearances in this forest. While the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys had been transported to a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. Jeremy now believes that this is where they will find Emilie’s sister Shannon. When they returned from the magical realm, only Jeremy kept his memories of that place and all that transpired there. To complicate things further, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return and not seen him in 15 years for his own inscrutable reasons.
But now the time for burying secrets must end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. Jeremy is forced to confront Rafe with the truth of what happened while they were lost. The two former lost boys are also forced to confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories. Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe, and Jeremy return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only there can they discover their true identities and reclaim everything and everyone they’ve lost.
The Lost Story is heartwarming original fairytale fantasy. The story has all the essential elements of a fairy tale, including princes, princesses, knights, magic, magical animals, villains, unicorns, and even mermaids. But if you’re expecting this to be a fairy tale for adults, you may be slightly disappointed. Although the characters are all in their 20s and 30s, some of their dialogue is immature, reminiscent of adolescents conversing. This doesn’t detract from the overall enjoyment of the book, but readers should be aware to avoid false expectations. Secondly, the world-building is more aligned with what you’d expect from YA or cozy fantasy books. The characters don’t venture into the magical realm of Shanandoah until almost the midpoint of the story, and there isn’t enough time spent developing conflict or adventures in the magical world. On the contrary, what does give this story depth and emotional resonance is the substantial dark subject matter dealt with, including suicide, adoption, death, physical abuse, and dysfunctional family life.
The novel also features several popular romance tropes, including found family, second chance romance, and forced proximity, which most definitely make the story more compelling. The LGBT representation in the novel is another unique feature of the story, and the bond between Rafe and Jeremy is well developed and especially heartwarming. There are many references and nods to The Chronicles of Narnia and its characters in this story. But if this book was intended to be inspired by the wonders of Narnia, the magic of the Shanandoah realm does fall a bit short. On the positive, the book does a wonderful job presenting the beauty of West Virginia with its “endless rolling hills, all shades of October.” The many references to the beauty and mystery of the state park will definitely have readers looking up that area on a map and contemplating visiting this magical place one day.
The story also features many interludes by an enigmatic storyteller who leads readers through the story with lots of witty puns and comical relief. The storyteller is also careful to provide readers with the “rules” that this fairytale must follow: there must be one princess in trouble, one magician, wizard, and/or wise woman, one hero, one to three villains, a member of a royal family disguised as a nobody, and “a pinch of unusual animals.” It’s all quite ingenious and hilarious!
Narrator Jorjeana Marie does a phenomenal job narrating. Although it would have been ideal to have a full cast narrate this audiobook, Marie does an amazing job bringing each character to life with distinct, authentic voices and personalities. Marie’s narration is also extremely well paced and easy to listen to.
If you’re looking for a heartwarming fantasy book with loveable characters, a unique magical realm, and a large dose of heart and witty humour, then you’ll very likely enjoy this book. The audiobook is the highly recommended format for enjoying this one, as it’s so charmingly narrated by Jorjeana Marie. Seeing as the story has an open-ended conclusion, there’s definitely an opportunity for a sequel—and with it, a great potential to expand the world-building into something much greater!
