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Cover of The Lost Story by Meg ShafferThe Lost Story
New · Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure

The Lost Story

by Meg Shaffer
2024 · 354 pages · Fiction
Reserve shelf
≈ 9 hours to read · about 3 weeks at 30 minutes a day

What it's about

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia forest and reappeared six months later with no explanation. Fifteen years later, Rafe is a reclusive artist with no memory of what happened, and Jeremy finds lost people for a living. When a woman asks them to find her missing sister, they must return to a magical world.

Why it's worth reading

It was a Goodreads Choice finalist. It's a fairy tale for adults inspired by the Narnia books.

You'll love it if you liked

Good to know

It's whimsical, with a queer romance.

By the numbers

49.9Must-Read Score
  • Readers5 out of 100 · counts 42%
  • Critics0 out of 100 · counts 14%
  • Bestseller18 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
  • Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 10%

Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.

On our reserve shelf: it's well reviewed, but isn't currently a prize winner, a lifetime bestseller or a book everyone's talking about, so we don't rank it. We check again every month, and it can still turn up in your 50 once you've read most of our ranked books.

Why it made the list

Shortlisted
Goodreads Choice (fantasy) finalist (2024)

Reads as

Adventurous

How we rank

Already read it? Upload your Goodreads or StoryGraph history and get the 50 best books you haven't read, tuned to your taste.Get my 50

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Explore the best-of lists

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Quick answers

Is The Lost Story worth reading?

It was a Goodreads Choice finalist. Its Must-Read Score is 49.9 (the best book we found scores 99).

What is The Lost Story about?

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia forest and reappeared six months later with no explanation. Fifteen years later, Rafe is a reclusive artist with no memory of what happened, and Jeremy finds lost people for a living. When a woman asks them to find her missing sister, they must return to a magical world.

How long does it take to read The Lost Story?

About 9 hours (354 pages), or about 3 weeks at 30 minutes a day.

What should I read after The Lost Story?

If you liked it, try The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis or The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown.