title: The Book of Lost Things
author:  John Connolly 
description: Crossley provides a smooth, professional reading of this heartfelt story of loss and discovery. Connolly's fairy tale for adults chronicles the adventures of David, a 12-year-old boy growing up in WWII England. Still mourning the loss of his mother to cancer, David is desperately trying to adjust to life with a new stepmother, a new half-brother and a father who, because of the war, is never around. But everything changes when David stumbles through a magical gateway and into a realm of familiar, yet decidedly different, representations of classic fairy tales. Searching for a way home, he is pursued by the Crooked Man, an evil troll who must strip David of his innocence in order to retain his power over the kingdom. David learns lessons of bravery, loyalty, acceptance, sacrifice and, finally, the power of love and family. Crossley's narration is articulate and measured, bringing a respectful dignity to the author's prose. He takes the same care with the book's multitude of characters, whether it is David, the Crooked Man or a hilariously funny band of anti-capitalist dwarfs. A lovely tale, skillfully told. <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
  						    	
  						        	--This text refers to an alternate <a href="/dp/1845793919/ref=dp_bookdescription?_encoding=UTF8&amp;n=283155">Hardcover</a> edition.
zlib_text: Synopsis
  
  New York Times bestselling author John Connolly’s unique imagination takes
  readers through the end of innocence into adulthood and beyond in this dark
  and triumphantly creative novel of grief and loss, loyalty and love, and the
  redemptive power of stories.
  
  High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the death of his
  mother. He is angry and alone, with only the books on his shelf for company.
  But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness, and as he takes
  refuge in his imagination, he finds that reality and fantasy have begun to
  meld. While his family falls apart around him, David is violently propelled
  into a land that is a strange reflection of his own world, populated by heroes
  and monsters, and ruled over by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a
  mysterious book... The Book of Lost Things.
  
  An imaginative tribute to the journey we must all make through the loss of
  innocence into adulthood, John Connolly’s latest novel is a book for every
  adult w