A girl who is fascinated by death and a man whose wife has died are the main characters in this arty read. LOST AND FOUND skips around from person to person, also incorporating a week in the life of an elderly woman Agatha who never leaves her house, and various other eccentrics.

Karl is referred to as a touch typist, but he does not own a keyboard; he drums his fingers on surfaces to help him think out his words. After a chapter detailing his marriage and wife's death, we find him in a police station because he has absconded from a senior care home. Millie meanwhile is a child who takes her gumboots for a walk in the park, stares at dead dogs and keeps tight hold of a book about dead things. She fastens on to phrases people around her say, and wonders if it really is possible to die happy. She wants to travel, and so does Karl.

The author Brooke Davis wrote LOST & FOUND as part of her PhD in Creative Writing in Western Australia. The style will not suit everyone so I recommend reading a sample chapter before deciding to buy for yourself or a friend. This is Brooke Davis's first novel and I was amused by the five pages of acknowledgements at the end in which I thought she revealed more about herself than did the book.

If you're into experimental writing and feel that seniors and children have a lot in common, such as being told what to do by everyone else, LOST & FOUND may well suit your taste.