The Book of Lost Hours
A GMA Book Club Pick (a Novel)
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4.3 • 44 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK!
For fans of The Ministry of Time and The Midnight Library, a sweeping, unforgettable novel following two remarkable women moving between postwar and Cold War–era America and the mysterious time space, a library filled with books containing the memories of those who bore witness to history.
Enter the time space, a soaring library filled with books containing the memories of those have passed and accessed only by specially made watches once passed from father to son—but mostly now in government hands. This is where eleven-year-old Lisavet Levy finds herself trapped in 1938, waiting for her watchmaker father to return for her. When he doesn’t, she grows up among the books and specters, able to see the world only by sifting through the memories of those who came before her. As she realizes that government agents are entering the time space to destroy books and maintain their preferred version of history, she sets about saving these scraps in her own volume of memories. Until the appearance of an American spy named Ernest Duquesne in 1949 offers her a glimpse of the world she left behind, setting her on a course to change history and possibly the time space itself.
In 1965, sixteen-year-old Amelia Duquesne is mourning the disappearance of her uncle Ernest when an enigmatic CIA agent approaches her to enlist her help in tracking down a book of memories her uncle had once sought. But when Amelia visits the time space for the first time, she realizes that the past—and the truth—might not be as linear as she’d like to believe.
Perfect for fans of The Midnight Library and The Ministry of Time, The Book of Lost Hours explores time, memory, and what we sacrifice to protect those we love.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
You’ll have new definitions of both time travel and star-crossed love once you finish this speculative romantic story. Little Lisavet Levy is stranded in the time space, a place where memories are stored in books, after her father is murdered by Nazis. So Lisavet grows up amongst the memories of the dead, evading the living government agents who visit the time space to destroy past memories and influence the current timeline. But she becomes exposed when she meets and falls in love with one of those timekeepers, CIA agent Ernest Duquesne, whose ruthless boss, Jack Dillinger, will stop at nothing to further his political aims. Years later, Lisavet’s own book of hoarded memories exposes a startling secret history. Hayley Gelfuso has created a charming and unique romance about two lovers who must confront brutal political pressures, their own consciences, and the very nature of time and consciousness in order to hold onto everything they care about. It’s a fascinating and emotional read.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gelfuso's engrossing debut follows the adventures of a Jewish girl who hides in a fantastical realm during WWII and devotes herself to protecting collective memories. It begins in 1938 Germany during Kristallnacht, when 11-year-old Lisavet Levy's watchmaker father sends her into the time space, where people's memories are bound in books, to save her from the Nazis. Though he promises to retrieve her, she winds up trapped in the time space with a specter, who teaches her how to access the memories stored in the books. As the war progresses, she discovers that German, American, and Russian timekeepers have gained access to the time space and are each trying to destroy memories of atrocities to shape a version of history that favors their own country. In 1949, Lisavet strikes up a romance with an American timekeeper named Ernest Duquesne and becomes pregnant with his child. A parallel narrative set in 1965 Boston follows Ernest's 15-year-old niece, Amelia, who's drawn by a strange woman into the time space to find a book in which Lisavet hid all the memories she saved from burning. Gelfuso seamlessly blends elements of romance and fantasy into the twisty quest narrative, and packs excitement into every page. It's a delight.
