Lost Property by Helen Paris

This is an odd book about a lost soul who is struggling with a lot of grief and feelings of insufficiency. She works in the lost and found and puts a lot more thought into her job than anyone else in the same office. She imagines the owners, the lives that they must lead thanks to the clues left behind and what they hold important. I feel like many fiction readers (like myself) count ourselves as people watchers (isn’t that what we essentially do when we read about all these people?), but Dot Watson is taking it to a whole new level.
There is much information being held back in the tale, just behind a curtain that waves about intermittently to give us a peek. Usually, I do not have patience for such games, but the unexpected (and some expected) events and conversations that take place in the latter half of the book made me enjoy my reading experience. I did weep with Dot on a few occasions as well.
This is a story of loss and identity, and I think that pretty much sums it up. I will admit I did not enjoy all the scenes and some of the repetitive nights as Dot hunkers down I skim read but got back into the narrative soon after.
It is, in essence, a sad book, with so many missed chances and even sadder events, but the last few chapters make it more uplit than I thought it would end up being. I would definitely recommend it to readers of the genre.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.