Lost for Words

Author: Stephanie Butland 
Publisher: Zaffre Publishing 
Publishing date: 2017
Pages: 352

Loveday Cardew works in an old bookshop which is also a place that most resembles her home. She is a loner and she prefers books to people. One day, on her way to work, she finds a poetry book on the pavement and she decides to take it with her to the bookshop. She puts a sign in the window for the owner of the book to find. And this starts off a string of events. Loveday has a secret and someone out there knows about it. Her quiet, lonely live is about to change altogether. But that is something Loveday wish the least of all...

"God, I don't love much but I love words."

This book was probably the most surprising I've read this year. When I found about it, of course I had to buy it stright away simply because of the title. Plus the cover is cute, and I just can't help myself and fall in love when I see a cute book. But the cover also made me assume that it was going to be a chick-lit novel. Therefore, when I plunged in to it right after the book arrived into my mailbox, I was kind of buffeled to find out that it was not. Even though there is a love interest in this book, it's more like a psychological novel, almost thriller even. And since I hadn't been in a mood for it by the time I started reading this book, and I knew that my current state of mind was ruining the experience for me, I just put it down. But when I came back to it a couple of months later, I finished it almost in one sitting. It was that gripping and thrilling...

"Books are our best lovers and our most provoking friends."

There's so much to love about this book, but the thing that made me love it the most was the bookshop where the story took place. It resembled the bookshop I'd worked in when I was living in London so much that it was impossible for me to picture any other place in my head. Even the characters in it were so much alike those people I met in my bookshop. And it was actually really nice to go back there through this book. Also, I loved all the book references scattered throughout the story. I mean, is there something better than to meet a character of a book who happens to like the same books as you do? But not only because of that was it a perfect book for book lovers. It simply contained all of those things that make us want to read. Emotions, comfort, insight, companioship, thrill... Lost for Words is admittedly very sad story because it is about a family tragedy, but the novel as a whole remains heartwarming, nonetheless. It made me cry but I was also very calm and consoled at the end of it. And so I am very glad I gave this book a chance, for it was amazing and I loved every sentence of it... 

Rating: 5/5