The Lost Girls

A Novel

By: Heather Young

Narrated by: Alice Rosengard, Laurel Schroeder

Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

A stunning debut novel that examines the price of loyalty, the burden of regret, the meaning of salvation, and the sacrifices we make for those we love, told in the voices of two unforgettable women linked by a decades-old family mystery at a picturesque lake house.

In 1935, six-year-old Emily Evans vanishes from her family's vacation home on a remote Minnesota lake. Her disappearance destroys the family - her father commits suicide, and her mother and two older sisters spend the rest of their lives at the lake house, keeping a decades-long vigil for the lost child.

Sixty years later, Lucy, the quiet and watchful middle sister, lives in the lake house alone. Before her death she writes the story of that devastating summer in a notebook that she leaves, along with the house, to the only person who might care: her grandniece, Justine.

For Justine the lake house offers freedom and stability - a way to escape her manipulative boyfriend and give her daughters the home she never had. But the long Minnesota winter is just beginning. The house is cold and dilapidated. The dark, silent lake is isolated and eerie. Her only neighbor is a strange old man who seems to know more about the summer of 1935 than he's telling.

Soon Justine's troubled oldest daughter becomes obsessed with Emily's disappearance, her mother arrives to steal her inheritance, and the man she left launches a dangerous plan to get her back. In a house haunted by the sorrows of the women who came before her, Justine must overcome their tragic legacy if she hopes to save herself and her children.

©2016 Heather Young (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

Engaging story spanning three generations.

Any additional comments?

The Lost Girls by Heather Young is an engaging tale that spans nearly 80 years involving one Minnesota family and their remote lake house. It is told from the perspective of two women, one from Lucy, who is reflecting on her life as a preteen back in 1935, who watched her older sister "grow up" and lost her 6-year-old sister that summer. The other perspective from Lucy's grandniece, Justine, who just inherited the lake house at Lucy's death. Justine uses the lake house to escape her manipulative boyfriend in San Diego and attempts to give her daughters a home, despite the dilapidated state of the old place.

While the beginning of the story seemed to drag on, once the pace picked up I started to really care for the characters. You really got to understand how the lives of all the women in the family - for three generations - were deeply affected by the disappearance of Lucy's 6-year-old sister in 1935 (You don't find out what happened to her until the very end, which is why this book is so engaging.) I also really appreciated the slow maturation of Justine's character who was very mousey at the beginning, but by the end she has moxy and refused to do what her manipulative mother and boyfriend wanted her to do. While Justine made several mistakes, I loved her loyalty to her children and how she always tried to be a good mother, which was the opposite of her own mother.

I listened to the Audible version of this story narrated by Alice Rosengard and Laurel Schroeder. Alice portrayed Lucy as if she were reading what Lucy was writing into a notebook on her death bed about her memories of what happened that summer and the resulting consequences. You could hear the regret in Alice's voice, especially at the end with the big reveal. Laurel's narration on the other hand was more present day, as if things were happening right then. She differentiated between male and female voices and changed the tempo in the performance when warranted. I was totally engrossed into the story imagining different characters speaking. In conclusion, The Lost Girls is an excellent book that is superbly narrated!

A sad and melancholy story

What made the experience of listening to The Lost Girls the most enjoyable?

I think this book lends itself very well to audio and the narration really brings the characters to life. The narrator for Lucy sounded very much like an old woman at the end of her life. She spoke slowly and with frequent audible gasps for breath which I would usually find distracting but in this case it was completely suitable for the character. The narrator for Justine sounded exactly like the "cool mom" which is what Justine is. She captured the vulnerability of the character but also the underlying strength.

Any additional comments?

This is a very sad and melancholy story with two different threads/time periods woven together. It starts very slowly as it sets the location and mood for the slow building mystery. Then near the end it all breaks loose and is quite shocking and more than a little disturbing. The beginning might be too slow for many but if you stick with it you will be rewarded with a very emotional and devastating ending for one story line, and a crazy violent and then kind of happy ending for the other.

I enjoyed .

This is the kind of book I like, Good start held my attention, and a twist to get you to the end. a good Read.

The Lost Girls

If you could sum up The Lost Girls in three words, what would they be?

This is an absolutely good novel about a group of families who leave the heat of the city for homes on the shores of a small lake every summer. The story is told in alternating chapters -- first the times spent at the lake, then two generations later in retrospect. Heather Young's debut novel is spine tingling and chilling, and a mystery only solved at the end of the book.

Please, Ma'am, May we have some more?

This is an amazing nook. A gripping story and a delicious use of language as well. I hope to read many more books by this author!

An unique and interesting listen

I’m not sure what caused me to be so drawn into this story but it really pulls you in and makes you want to learn what happens to these complex characters.

Great book

This is a great book that intertwines the stories of two generations of women who live in a rural house, centered on the mysterious disappearance of its youngest occupants at the beginning of the twentieth century. Rich language, great plot. Good narrators.

Partly Great, Partly Average

Narrator voice for Lucy was spectacular but the voice of Justine was weaker. The mystery about Emily’s disappears was finely wrought and inventive but Father’s roll was obvious. Could see that coming from the first pages. Great prose if a little over the top in places. Despite a few problems, well worth reading and listening.

Vocal inflections?

The reader who read for Justine used almost no inflection in her voice. It was as if the reader was depressed and sleepy. It made the story seem like a real snoozer.

Excellent

I enjoyed this book very much. Excellent story of past and present. If this is her first book I can't wait to read more.