Lost by Jacqueline Davies is a great piece of historical fiction. Davies has taken two headline events—the disappearance of heiress Dorothy Arnold and a factory fire that killed 141 people–that both occurred in New York City, and weaves a story that binds them together.  The narrator is likeable, and you can’t help feeling compassion for this young girl forced to live and work the life of a woman beyond her young years. The chapters juxtapose the narrator’s past and present which carries the story along while rooting us to the characters.  While this was an enjoyable read, I feel like the tone or maybe the pacing of the novel was a little off.  It felt intentionally naïve in the beginning, but as events unfolded at the end, I feel like it was a little rushed and not as delicately formed as the beginning had been.  Overall it was an intriguing read.

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Marshall Cavendish

Content Analysis:

At the center of Lost is the death of the narrator’s baby sister and the narrator’s inability to properly cope with that loss.  It is written from a teenage girl’s perspective though so a lot of the heaviness  is alleviated that way. We do find out in detail though that the sister was trampled by horses, smashing her head.  Also there is a factory fire scene that is fairly intense.  Women and girls are catching on fire, trampling each other, and throwing themselves out the window of a multi-story building.  This is would be a mature theme and violent.  Although nothing is graphic, but it is thematically a little heavy. 

We find out that a secondary character is pregnant out of wedlock, and she has run away from home. 

There are a couple of swear words. 

There isn’t really any sexual content, but the narrator describes several times how she wants to be physically close to a certain neighbor boy, but her descriptions are adolescent and not inappropriate.

Mature Subject Matter:

None

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None