Saturday, February 17, 2007

What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn

Our bestselling book this week by a mile, even when you take out books sold at the launch event we had, is What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn.

It's a truly great read and deserves to do well all around the country.

There's a very positive review in the Guardian today and the Mail and Observer have already raved about it so it's not just us!

Come on people - let's make Catherine's book a bestseller - she's great, and so is her book.

Grauniad review below:

What Was Lost, by Catherine O'Flynn (Tindal Street Press, £8.99)

Green Oaks shopping centre, built on the site of a former factory in Birmingham, is a huge commercial success - and a monster of soulless homogeneity, reducing the lives of those who shop, work or simply loiter there to the same level of blandness. One of these is night security guard Kurt, on whose CCTV screens the image of a little girl with a toy monkey appears. She bears a striking resemblance to Kate Meaney, who vanished some 20 years earlier in 1984.

Lisa, the disillusioned deputy manager of a music shop, whose missing older brother was the main suspect in Kate's disappearance, joins Kurt in an increasingly disturbing quest to discover her fate. What Was Lost is an exceptional, polyphonic novel of urban disaffection, written with humour and pathos. Kate's deceptively jaunty diary entries reveal a consumer-driven society choking on its own loneliness; a ghost story; and an examination of unspeakable loss.

2 comments:

  1. This book truly is a great read. I enjoyed it thoroughly and recommend it to anyone, especially to those who visit centres like Green Oaks on a regular basis.

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  2. AnonymousJuly 11, 2007

    First came across 'What was lost' on your blog and I'm a third through the book and simply can't put it down! Great recommendation!

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