The Lost Story

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes—just in case—from the author of The Wishing Game.“This is the book you’ve been waiting for.”—Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Empire Falls and the North Bath TrilogyAN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEARAs boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

“A love letter to reading and the power that childhood stories have over us long after we’ve grown up.”—V. E. Schwab, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

“Wholly moving.”—Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling co-author of Mad Honey

“Shaffer speaks to every reader who yearns for a more magical world.”—Thao Thai, author of Banyan Moon

“Shaffer blends tragedy and triumph. . . . This is wish fulfillment in the best way.”—PUblishers Weekly (starred review)

“A heartwarming, page-turning story of found family and the world-changing power of a good book.”—Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood

“A dreamy, inventive novel about how books can not only change lives but save them, too.”—Sarah Addison Allen, New York Times bestselling author of Other Birds

“Meg Shaffer’s debut establishes her as one of the best.”—Gwenda Bond, New York Times bestselling author of Mr. & Mrs. Witch

“Magical, emotional, and charming.”—Booklist