NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of Before We Were Yours comes a dramatic historical novel of three young women searching for family amid the destruction of the post–Civil War South, and of a modern-day teacher who learns of their story and its vital connection to her students’ lives.“An absorbing historical . . . enthralling.”—Library JournalBestselling author Lisa Wingate … Journal
Bestselling author Lisa Wingate brings to life startling stories from actual “Lost Friends” advertisements that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil War, as newly freed slaves desperately searched for loved ones who had been sold away.
Louisiana, 1875: In the tumultuous era of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Hannie, a freed slave; Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now destitute plantation; and Juneau Jane, Lavinia’s Creole half sister. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texas, following roads rife with vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of stolen inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and siblings before slavery’s end, the pilgrimage west reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the limitless frontiers of Texas and, improbably, hope.
Louisiana, 1987: For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt—until she lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town. Augustine, Louisiana, is suspicious of new ideas and new people, and Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled live oaks and run-down plantation homes lie the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything.
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Our stories and the ones told by our families are the threads that weave us together as human beings! Lisa Wingate is a master at pulling all those threads together into a gripping tale. Hannie and Benny are two brave females that take us from the days of slavery to the 1980’s. They show us the history of a time and place that teaches us lessons we can use in our lives today!
I recommend that you read this book.
Oh my goodness, I have so many wonderful thoughts towards this one that I hardly know where to begin. Lisa Wingate has written herself another masterful must-read! She wrote right to the heart of a historical fiction admirer, and created a story worthy of affirming what it is that makes history so vital. One quote that has etched itself into my mind is: “We die once when the last breath leaves our bodies. We die a second time when the last person speaks our name.” Even if a historical fiction piece is not based on a specific real-life person, it’s (hopefully) rooted in truth from the time period is describes, and is a way to keep history alive from generation to generation.
One of my favorite themes in this novel was remembering history whether it was good or bad. It’s easier for us to focus on the good things and pretend like the bad never happened, but if we are to learn from our mistakes and be able to fully appreciate our pasts, we have to take the bad with the good. For Hannie, if slavery was to be washed away as if it never happened, her entire family tree would be forgotten as if they’d never existed. The hardships they’d endured would be swept under the rug. In a way it felt like reading this story was a cry for her life to not be erased.
I liked how the author used the contemporary timeline to appeal to not only the students in Benny’s class, but the reader themselves. She had entered a school where it was very obvious that life was rough for many of the kids. Seeking a way to reach them, she came up with a plan to personalize history for them and to make it more real and tangible. She encouraged them to find out about their own family histories and how some of them even tied together. She didn’t just teach them about history, but helped feed an appreciation of it. Oh, how this whole idea just gripped my heart and made me love this story a gazillion times more <3
I guarantee this one will be making my favorites list this year. Absolutely masterful. I highly recommend this to all of my historical fiction friends. I'm sure that despite the sadness that is also found within, it will also bring a smile to your face.
*I received a copy of this book through NetGalley. Thoughts and opinions expressed are mine alone.
I’ve been a long time fan of Lisa Wingate books so I was thrilled to receive my ARC of “the Book of Lost Things” which is due to be released on April 7. Lisa has a talent for bringing historical fiction to life by introducing little parts of history that I’m not familiar with which causes me to want to research it further. This book switches between the story of Hanny Gossett, a freed slave in Louisiana 1875 and Benny Silva, a fresh out of college teacher starting her first job in a low-income school in Louisiana 1987. I loved traveling along with Hanny on her journey to find her family who were sold one by one when Hanny was six years old. While traveling with her half-sister, Juneau Jane they take cover in a church and find newspaper ads placed by other former slaves looking for their families. They decide to start a book of Lost friends as they meet others on their journey so that they might place their own ads when they reach their destination.
In searching for a way to inspire her students to love history, Benny sets out to create a classroom library and while doing so realizes she’s found a gold mine of history in her own backyard. As she gains her students’ trust she reels them into researching some of the families that are buried in an unmarked cemetery teaching them the value of stories. Both Hanny and Benny have many ups and downs in their journeys and you will enjoy traveling with them while one is writing her own story to be found by the other. Beautifully written. If you love authentic historical fiction, then I’m sure you’ll thoroughly enjoy this book.
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate was a winning story taking place in two centuries. The first, shortly after the Civil War, and the second in 1987, in the same town. Many of the people in the second era were descendants of those in the first. The earlier tale documents the trip to Texas from Louisiana of three young women, girls, who were trailing the father of two of them, and an ex-slave, who was descended from the other girl’s grandfather. One girl was the legitimate, white daughter of the master; one the illegitimate daughter of the master and his mixed race mistress, and one an ex-slave who was sharecropping with several others, working out the contract for ownership of their plot of land. The three of them set out to find the master in Texas, each looking to solidify her economics position. The 1987 story is about an out-of-town school teacher who struggles to motivate her students, all poor, many black, in a school where everyone has given up.
I had a little trouble getting into the story, but once I was, wow! There are ins and outs beyond words, as there often are when one takes a look at 4 or 5 generations. Especially in the south, especially where slavery is concerned. The students come up with the project on their won so there was plenty of buy-in. The girls in the 19th century eventually grew up and returned from Texas with a heck of a story to tell: one of intrigue, lies, prejudice, sex (not explicit), romance, and loyalty. The Book of Lost Friends was a fabulous read and well done, considering were skipped back and forth so much. It is always a positive when people come to care about the past, recent, or not. I recommend it.
I received a free ARC of The Book of Lost Friends from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #thebookoflostfriends
True grit, stamina, and complete determination, along with hidden family skeletons. We are given two young woman over hundred years apart, one a struggling teacher in a hard school, the other a freed slave who used to live on the property that our teachers renting.
Of course, they never meet, but what a connection is formed here, I felt like I was living history. These woman go to great extremes to help those they are now in charge of, and you wonder where they get the fortitude to continue.
The story has a great amount of history, showing a great deal of injustice, and if you try and put yourself in Hannie’s shoes, I couldn’t. There are tears and smiles, and be sure to read the notes at the end, full of information, and completion!
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Ballantine Books, and was not required to give a positive review.
This is another gripping story from Lisa Wingate. She tells the story of Bennie and Hannie, a teacher and a freed slave, separated by a hundred years but ultimately connected by a search for the truth. Once again, Lisa astounds me with her research and ability to create real characters who have an amazing story to tell. Put this book at the top of your to be read list.
I honestly don’t even know how to begin a review for The Book of Lost Friends. As a long-time fan and influencer for Lisa Wingate, I obviously wanted to review this book but due to my mind being distracted by a prolonged family crisis, I had absolutely no clue as to its contents. I went into the story totally blind. As some other reviewers mentioned, it began fairly slow but I knew that the author tends to build her stories one layer at a time and the next thing I know I find myself hooked. That was the case with this beautiful tale. It didn’t take me long to wonder why I thought it could be at all slow.
A split time novel, readers are taken back and forth between post-Civil war Louisiana and 1987 Louisiana with freed slave Hannie and a teacher with her very first assignment. Interspersed between the chapters are actual historic newspaper ads from Hannie’s era of people who have written in search of their family members or friends. These ads played a huge role in the story as Hannie and two other young women traveled to Texas in search of her former master. Hannie’s tale is filled with danger and tragedy yet a small spark of hope pushes Hannie to continue searching for her own family members who were sold years before.
Benny soon finds herself in over her head with the high school students she is expected to teach. An avid reader, Benny hopes to install a love of books into her pupils but most of them have absolutely no interest in the only book available to them. An unexpected discovery prompts Benny to develop a project that requires the students to dig into their own backgrounds.
I loved the way the author ties the characters of the two eras together. It was fun reading a name in a newspaper ad or in Hannie’s story and then find the same name among Benny’s students or residents of Augustine, Louisiana. Sometimes poignant yet filled with hope, The Book of Lost Friends brought me a new understanding of the slaves displaced by their owners or the war. It is a story with a little bit of everything – action and adventure, secrets and mystery, faith and hope, with just a touch of romance for good measure. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to everyone.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by the author. A favorable
“Stories change people. History, real history, helps people understand each other, see each other from the inside out.”
This emotional, dramatic story of three young women unfolds as they journey from Goswood Grove Plantation in Louisiana to the wilds of the untamed Texas frontier in the year 1875. Displaying courage, perseverance and loyalty, the three make their life altering journey led by Hannie, the free girl of color, by taking risks, using ingenuity, and never giving up. Along the way, Hannie and Juneau Jane, the illegitimate Creole daughter of the plantation owner, become acquainted with the Southwestern Christian Advocate’s advertisements from people who are seeking lost friends, their lost family members. As the girls travel they add to their list of people seeking lost friends. To Hannie, the task becomes a driving force in her life.
Told in a dual timeline, the novel encompasses the story of Benny Silva, a young teacher working in the town of Augustine, Louisiana near Goswood Grove. As Benny’s history project unfolds, the past and the present intertwine and weave a captivating story filled with a cast of characters with personality and spunk. As she bumps up against the town’s power base, she and her students learn some powerful lessons.
Interspersed with actual advertisements from the Southwestern Christian Advocate and based on real historical facts, this fiction story is one of the most captivating I have read in a long time. This book is one that will make you think for days after you close that last page. One of the best books I’ve read in 2020!
This ARC copy was received from Ballantine and Netgalley.com. The above thoughts and opinions are wholly my own.
Linda’s Book Obsession Reviews “The Book of Lost Friends” by Lisa Wingate, Ballantine, April 7, 2020
WOW! Lisa Wingate has written an amazing, intriguing, riveting, captivating, and memorial novel. The Genres for this novel are Historical Fiction and Fiction. Lisa Wingate is an amazing storyteller and writer and vividly describes the history, characters, events, and landscape in her novel. There are two timelines in this story. One is in Louisiana in 1875, and the other is in Louisiana in 1987. There are other places that are mentioned in this story. The author describes her dramatic characters as complex, and complicated. There are both good and evil people and events in this story. There are dark secrets that affect generations of people. Both timelines are like pieces of a puzzle and ultimately connect.
The first time-line for this story describes the post Civil War period when some slaves were supposed to own the land that they have worked on, facing opposition from other people. During this time, there is a newspaper that charges 50 cents to an individual for the opportunity to find family and friends, that had been separated. They can write a post about who they are looking for. Three young women, Hannie, Lavina, and Juneau Jane travel to Texas, each looking for something important and dear to their hearts. Hannie wants to find her mother, and family. Both Lavina and Juneau Jane and are searching for their father to determine their inheritance. Along the way, there is the danger of animals, people who take the law in their hands,, bandits, thieves, Indians, soldiers, and the FBI They are facing danger, threats, and death. As they travel, the women start to write in a book with, people looking for their family and friends.
In 1987, Benny is a new teacher with a diverse student population, and few supplies. The people in the town seem quirky and reluctant to share information with the new teacher. There are deep dark secrets. Benny does find some hidden books and information that will change many of these people’s lives.
I loved everything about this poignant and thought-provoking novel and highly recommend this to readers who enjoy Historical Fiction.
Once again, Lisa Wingate has knocked this book out of the park. The Book of Lost Friends is a follow up to Before We Were Yours. The book brings to life stories from actual “Lost Friends” ad’s that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil War, as freed slaves desperately searched for loved ones who have been sold away.
I love how Lisa meshes two completely different people and families together and how they end the same. Heart breaking stories that change people. Real stories that help us see people from the inside out. The book deserves more than 5 stars.
Louisiana 1875; We are introduced to three women who are on a journey. Hannie, a freed slave; Lavinia, a spoiled heir; and Juneau Jane, Lavinia’s Creole half-sister. Hannie, torn from her mother wonders if her family is still out there.
Louisiana 1987; Bennie, a first-year teacher accepts a job in rural Louisiana, she is not ready for the level of poverty that her students live in. Bennie teachers her students that their family history is important to who they are and who they can become.
“If there is magic in this world, it is contained in water, but I have always known if there is magic in this world, it is contained in books.”
Order a copy of The Book of Lost Friends and get lost in the story. Lisa has the gift of researching and writing books that will leave an impression on the reader. I have been on several of the author’s book launches and she has become one of my favorite authors.
I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion. All opinions are my own.
Lisa Wingate’s The Book of Lost Friends showcases her talent in weaving the past with the present in a powerful and emotional tale. Her ability to ferret out little known pieces of history that impacted untold numbers of people is never more evident than in her latest offering.
In 1875, Hannie, a newly freed plantation slave, and two unlikely companions leave Louisiana in a quest to find her former owner who has been rumored to be in Texas. For Lavinia, his spoiled daughter, and her Creole half-sister, Juneau June, it’s a matter of stolen inheritance. For Hannie, the memory of being torn from her mother and siblings haunts her, along with the knowledge that it took place in Texas. Could her family be waiting for her there? It’s a dangerous journey with scoundrels around every bend in the wild frontier land of Texas.
In alternating chapters, the story jumps to 1987 where Bendetta (Benny) Silva, a young teacher hopeful of cancelling her student debts, accepts a job in an impoverished rural area of Louisiana. Desperate to reach her unruly students, she stumbles upon the answer which connects the past to the present and changes everything.
While I had some difficulty keeping the numerous characters straight in the beginning of Hannie’s story, I quickly became intrigued and worried for her, Lavinia, and Juneau June. Told with gritty realism that is face paced from one dilemma to the next, Lisa is a master at drawing you into the story with authentic dialect and plot twists. The stories of both women were heart-wrenching, yet soul-warming, and in the end, I was both surprised and satisfied by the outcomes. I highly recommend this book for lovers of historical and southern fiction.
The publisher provided this book without obligation for review or endorsement.
My new favorite by Lisa Wingate
Disclosure I received a free book as a Book Ambassador for Lisa Wingate.
Such a touching story covering two time periods, one Post Civil War, and the other in the 1980’s. Fiction, with much history woven in. The two main characters are Hannie, a former slave and Benny, a first year school teacher in an isolated Louisiana school. The book chapters alternate between characters and we follow along on their journeys to finding themselves, their history, their people.
Hannies journey which she shares with two other young women is a wild trek through treacherous parts of Louisiana and Texas. She comes to learn about the Book of Lost Friends which were ads that were placed in a Methodist newspaper by former slaves that had been separated from their family members. These ads were read aloud in the churches with the hopes of reconnecting with their families. Heartbreaking accounts of so many lost family members.
Benny Silva is the teacher in 1980’s Louisiana, teaching at a poor school where none of the students are expected to do well by themselves or anyone else. Benny, having had a rough childhood is determined to find a way to reach these kids and involves them in a search for their own past histories.
Lisa Wingate is a wonderful storyteller and so good at tying these stories from two different centuries together in a very touching way, weaving words of wisdom throughout. I have to admit that I cried at the end of the book.
This was a pleasure to read as have been all of her books, but I think this one is my new favorite…it was hard to put down and I highly recommend it! I am already looking forward to her next one.
I would also recommend Before We Were Yours as well!
Stupendous! Lisa Wingate never fails to amaze me and this book is no exception! I loved the way she told the two stories, one century apart and then brought them together in the end. You’re taken on an adventure with three unusual travel companions in the 1880’s from Louisiana to Texas, experiencing some hair-raising predicaments along the way. You also follow the challenging path of a young teacher in the 1980’s in a small Louisiana town who is trying her best to motivate her students and to discover their unique identity. When she finds the key that will engage them in learning, she begins the connection between the two stories! Discovering how these two stories come together is delightful! As always with Lisa Wingate books, I learned about the history and customs of the time period in the book’s historical setting and came to admire the strength and perseverance of two incredible women, Hannie and Benny! For those of you who are already Lisa Wingate fans, you will add another book to your “favorites” list! For those not yet familiar with her writing, you are in for a real treat!
Lisa has found another incredible piece of history to examine in an unforgettable manner. She explores a piece of Louisiana and Southern history through a story in two voices and two times. I had never heard of the Lost Friends advertisements from post-Civil war newspapers which tried to reunite families who had been separated. Between the voices of Hannie, a freed slave in 1875 and Bennie, a first year school teacher at a poor school in Louisiana in 1987, we trace the shared roots and stories. Bennie has left behind a broken engagement to come to this school in search of student loan forgiveness, but is struggling to survive with little money and a class load of kids from poverty whose lives haven’t taught them to trust the inexperienced teacher to have anything worthwhile to teach them. Hannie is the only member of her family left with her owner when the war ended, so she has joined with the other former slaves to share-crop a plot of land for ten years in order to own it. As she departs on a dangerous journey, Wingate takes us on a heart-rending, breath-taking voyage with her. I could not put this book down, racing from chapter to chapter to find out what was going to happen next in BOTH the young lives in which I had become so engrossed!
In Before We Were Yours, Wingate had used the alternating voices very successfully, but she has refined the technique even farther in this book. The segments are brief enough to avoid losing the context of the other storyline, and are compelling enough to drive the reader onward each time. The replicas of the Lost Friends ads separate the segments and remind you that this story deals with a real slice of history.
Beyond all that, this book LIVES. It grabs you in the same way that Before We Were Yours does, and compels you to CARE about these people. You cringe with fear at Hannie’s tribulations, and are amazed at her courage. You hold your breath when Bennie challenges her students, and share her joy when they surprise her. There is a little hint of a love story here and there, but just a hint, and that is all that is needed. This is ultimately a story about the interconnectedness of all of us.
The Book of Lost Friends penned by Lisa Wingate is an awe-inspiring, gut-wrenching story that spans a century and portrays the search by former slaves for lost family members. Lisa includes the actual letters published by the Southwestern Christian Advocate from freed slaves seeking mothers, brothers, sisters, aunts, and grandparents who had been sold before the end of the Civil War. Lisa weaves the life experiences of Hannie Gossett, a young slave from Louisiana in the late 1800’s together with the life of Benedetta Silva, a teacher in Augustine, Louisiana in the late 1900’s. Hannie’s adventures take her from Louisiana to Texas as she rescues her former master’s daughters and helps them look for their missing father while searching for her own family. A century later, Benedetta in her first teaching job inspires a group of unmotivated students to look into their historical roots and deal with the prejudice in a small southern town. As secrets are uncovered in an old plantation house and in the base of a marble statue, Benedetta discovers Hannie’s history and how it directly relates to family members in modern Augustine, Louisiana. As a result of all her efforts, her students have the privilege of presenting their living history project to museums, universities, and libraries across three states as well as at the State Capitol. Lisa has the spell-binding ability to transition between two periods of history in her writing and to merge the events together into a breathtaking conclusion.
Lisa Wingate has written another historical novel that will sweep the reader along from the post Civil War life of a young slave girl named Hannie to the modern day trials of a teacher named Benedetta Silva in the year 1987. Masterfully woven together like a quilt with many squares, we see how the lives intertwine down through the ages. You will laugh, cry and shout Hallelujah as you journey page by page through the ages and witness the tenacity and endurance of the human spirit. Brillantly written by a magical storyteller! I highly recommend The Book of Lost Friends.
Once again Lisa Wingate has brought the past to life while alternating between two different centuries. Each chapter begins with a copy of a real “Lost Friends” ad in The Southwestern Christian Advocate in which freed slaves were asking for information on their family members from whom they were separated before the emancipation. The letters aid in tying together the stories of two women of strength and determination, each on a quest/mission, whom providence binds together.
Hannie Gossett, a freed slave and sharecropper in 1875 Augustine, Louisiana, disguises herself as a boy so she can accompany (and look out for) the plantation owner’s daughters when they set out to find their missing father, a search that takes them on a perilous journey to Texas and puts their lives in danger several times. Along the way they discover “Lost Friends” ads papering the walls of a church where they took shelter. Fascinated by them, Hannie insists on taking them along when they continue their journey. They add more and more names in the margins over the days and weeks ahead, until they had to transfer them all to a book, one they were determined not to lose.
In 1987, first-year teacher Benedetta “Benny” Silva has been hired to teach English in Augustine. Within three weeks she is desperate to find a way to get her classes engaged in reading and learning instead of sleeping, goofing off, or skipping classes. But, as with many schools in poorer areas, they are underfunded and she doesn’t have enough classroom copies of any book for everyone. Then Benny comes across the Gossett plantation house on a walk near her home. Peering through the windows, she sees a huge, magnificent library and an idea begins to take shape. As her idea comes to fruition, her students become interested and involved in learning Augustine’s history and their own heritage. Ultimately, they decide to have a pageant in which they’ll dress in period costumes and tell these stories in the graveyard. But the Gossett family is still a major force in Augustine and they want to shut it down. Benny and the friends she has made don’t give up so easily.
The story brings up some not-so-pleasant points about the treatment of slaves – both before and after the emancipation – and how little women and the underprivileged were valued, as well as the wildness and violence of our developing nation. However, the far greater point is the value of telling our stories or recording them in some way lest they be forgotten entirely. “We die once when the last breath leaves our bodies. We die a second time when the last person speaks our name. The first death is beyond our control, but the second one we can strive to prevent.”
The ONLY quibble I had with the story – not enough to cost a star in my rating – is that while there were mentions of Benny’s back story, it was never fleshed out, which left me curious as to what happened to Benny in her past that made her into the woman she became. It’s the only time I’ve seen Lisa Wingate miss an opportunity to fully tell a character’s story.
Many thanks to Penguin Random House for the ARC. It was an honor to have the opportunity to read and review this book.
I absolutely inhaled this book! Lisa Wingate has mastered the art of weaving story lines from the distant past with more or less current times, and I love that during a very compelling read I learned a bit of history. The “Lost Friends” column of the Southwestern was the inspiration for this book. If you enjoyed “Before We Were Yours” this is a MUST READ!
Another wonderful book by Lisa Wingate! This book is fiction that is based on history. I love that idea! It starts in 1875 and is a story about 3 women, all connected by their wealthy landowner/father. The plantation is called Goswood Grove. In the case of Hannie Gossett, she is a freed slave after the Civil War. Lavinia Gossett is the daughter of the plantation owner and Juneau Jane is the offspring of the plantation owner’s mistress. They set off on a journey to find Mr. Gossett, for various reasons.
The second story is about a school teacher, Benedetta Silva in 1987. She has come to the same town, basically 100 years later, as a rural school teacher looking to pay off her college loans. The town is not a friendly one at first, the kids are rowdy and uncontrolled in the classroom, and she is regretting her choice. She comes to find out that the old plantation home is still being kept up and that there is a huge library with lots of books. She finds a way to get access to those books for her classroom. In doing so she finds a connection between 100 years ago and her students today.
The book goes back and forth between both stories and that always takes me a few times to adjust. However, once you do, you will be wanting to stay up all night and read the book, the next chapter, to see what happens to every single one of these ladies.
During the period of slavery, people (slaves) were sold off to various plantation owners with no thought to the separation of their families. Some were runaways, too. After the Civil War, the slaves that were freed started trying to find their families and one of the ways they did this was through a southern newspaper called the Southwestern. If they could afford the 50c required, they would place an ad that was called Lost Friends. Hannie and Juneau Jane start a recording of these ads in a book form, and gather more as their journey unfolds, in order to help these families that they meet along the way.
I have to say that from my point of view, this book opened up to me the horrors of slavery. Sure, I studied it in school, I know that it was a horrible time in the history of our country, I condemn any form of it, but Lisa’s words brought their life to me in a way that I never experienced. She opened my eyes to the familial aspect of slavery and what it did to those families. As a mom, you cannot comprehend the actions that were taken by owners and others.
Read this book! You will not regret it and hopefully, it too, will open your mind!
I don’t know if there is a book of Lisa’s that I have not liked. I really liked Benny and enjoyed reading about her trying to get through to the kids she was teaching and what she did to make that happen. I also liked Hennie and cheered her on through her journey. I liked the symbol of the three blue beads and what they stood for. I thought the ending was appropriate although I would have loved to know just a little more about what happened with Benny and Nathan. Of course I loved the historical part of this book as well. History is my favorite thing. It is nice that Lisa brings these little now historical tidbits to life in her fiction stories that people may not have heard about otherwise. There is something about Lisa’s books that you connect with the characters on a deeper level than most book. They always seem to bring some memory of your life to the surface and make you think. A great storyteller.