Millie Bird is a seven-year-old girl experiencing death all around her, from spiders to dogs and in between, then her own father. She lives in a world of her own, full of questions about life, death and purpose.
Millie is deserted at a mall by her mother and encounters an old man who is fascinated by typing, calling himself "Karl the touch typist". Karl's loving wife has passed and his life has taken on a sad and unproductive path. After three days and Millie is still hiding out at the mall, she sneaks away to avoid the authorities that are on their way to collect her. Knowing her way home, she steals her way to the house where the neighbor lady across the street sees her. Agatha has also lost her husband and is another old, lost, bitter soul, shutting herself off as a hermit.
Eventually Millie, Agatha and Karl begin their adventure together, trekking across Australia to find Millie's mother. Each day brings more sadness for Millie and more mischief from Agatha and Karl. While struggling to protect Millie from the world, it gives Karl and Agatha purpose to begin living again. Both realize that getting old doesn't mean your life has ended.
LOST & FOUND is an absolutely heart-breaking story that definitely requires a whole box of Kleenex. Anyone who can read this without feeling the loneliness and desolation of this small inquisitive child has no feelings at all. Although I found LOST & FOUND a very depressing read, it will absolutely force the reader into thoughts usually ignored. I normally read books of an upbeat nature, so this is not the best one for me to judge. This story just makes my heart hurt. Brooke Davis did a very good job of portraying the colorful thoughts and actions of the individual characters.
An irresistible debut novel about the wisdom of the very
young, the mischief of the very old, and the magic that
happens when no one else is looking
Millie Bird, seven years old and ever hopeful, always
wears
red gumboots to match her curly hair. Her struggling
mother,
grieving the death of Millieβs father, leaves her in the
big
ladiesβ underwear department of a local store and never
returns.
Agatha Pantha, eighty-two, has not left her houseβor
spoken
to another human beingβsince she was widowed seven years
ago. She fills the silence by yelling at passersby,
watching
loud static on TV, and maintaining a strict daily
schedule.
Karl the Touch Typist, eighty-seven, once used his fingers
to type out love notes on his wifeβs skin. Now that sheβs
gone, he types his words out into the air as he speaks.
Karlβs been committed to a nursing home, but in a moment
of
clarity and joy, he escapes. Now heβs on the lam.
Brought together at a fateful moment, the three embark
upon
a road trip across Western Australia to find Millieβs
mother. Along the way, Karl wants to find out how to be a
man again; Agatha just wants everything to go back to how
it
was.
Together they will discover that old age is not the same
as
death, that the young can be wise, and that letting
yourself
feel sad once in a while just might be the key to a happy
life.
No excerpt available.
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