The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

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 This book was SOOOOO BORRRRIIIINNNNGGGG!! And if you read my blogs often, you would know that I never say that about any book, hardly ever. I mean, this is the first book I can recall that I seriously wanted to DNF (do not finish)! And honestly, I don't get it, because the storyline isn't that bad. I just can't get into it at all. Like, I'm just not in the right headspace or something. I don't know. It reminds me of Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah a little bit, like, I was in a similar boredom with that book, if that makes any sense. This one is worse though. I don't even have any desire to write a review, that's how bad it is. But I'm making myself write it so I don't feel like I completely wasted my time.

There are two storylines in this book. One is in 1875, 10 years after civil war. A lot of the slaves got separated from their family members due to the war and the slave markets. Hannie Gossett, an 18 year old slave has been working on the Gossett Grove Plantation for 10 years. She's separated from her mother 12 years ago due to the slave markets. She's promised 40 acres of land and mule to farm for working on the farm for 10 years, but the farm is currently in litigation because the head of household, William Gossett is missing and presumed dead. His daughter Missy Lavinia now owns the farm, but his illegitimate daughter, Juneau Jane is contesting it. Juneau Jane is the daughter of William and a New Orleans prostitute. The two decide to go to the family attorney in New Orleans. Hannie wants to make sure she gets her share too, so she dresses as a boy to drive the carriage to take them there. However, the family attorney decides to kidnap Lavinia and Juneau Jane by loading them onto the Genesee Star (a boat). When Hannie realizes this, she jumps into the boat as well. The boat heads to Texas.

Now the other timeline is more current day. Benedetta (Benny) Silva is teaching English in a poverty stricken district to help her pay down her student loan. The kids are hungry, not well behaved and have little interest in learning. Benny brings treats to the kids and is determined to turn things around. Benny is intrigued by the huge Gossett mansion and starts investigating the town's history. She befriends Nathan Gossett, the current owner of the mansion, and Nathan lets her and her students access the library in the mansion. Surprisingly, the students love the library. 

Back in 1875, the three women are now in Texas. They find a church and they manage to survive for a few days there. This is a Black church, and they see ads on the walls, clippings from newspapers about the Black families that have been separated during the war and are trying to reunite with their families. Hannie and Juneau decide to make a book with all the stories they gather, not just from the wall of clippings, but also from people the encounter. They named the book Book of Lost Friends. In the end, Hannie finds her family.

Back to modern day, Benny's students want to do a reenactment of the history lessons they learned. A group of white locals object the idea. (Benny is white, but her students are black.) The stories they want to reenact include the stories of Juneau Jane, Hannie, and Missy. Benny's job is being threatened if she continues with the play, but she knows her students have worked so hard on this. Nathan, who still has a stronghold in the town, supports Benny. Benny decides to carry on. The play is a huge success and brings fame to her students as it went viral on the internet. Benny discloses at the very end of the book that she has a lost child that she gave up for adoption 12 years ago. She hopes to reunite with her someday.

Not a bad story, but I couldn't get into it. It felt boring from the first page to the last. I know Lisa Wingate has written quite a few popular books and I still plan on reading her book, Before We Were Yours before I totally give up on her. We shall see... 

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