Two plucky heroines in different time periods animate this historical fiction set in Louisiana and Texas. The author is the same one who wrote Before We Were Yours. I’ve also read her Carolina Heirloom series which takes place in the Outer Banks. In The Book of Lost Friends she focuses on the post-civil war period when life was still hugely difficult for freed slaves because even though slaves were free, they had few resources and the oppression and racism was far from over. Esi Edugyan also captured this time period well in Washington Black (incidentally one of the Canada Reads 2022 short-list contenders). During this time there were a lot of people that had become separated from their loved ones.
Hannie Gossett (1875) and Benny Silva (1987) both tell a story of separated families and how the Book of Lost Friends came to be. Hannie, torn from her mother and siblings before slavery’s end, embarks on a journey that among other things, brings her hope of finding her lost family. Benny, a teacher challenged by kids struggling to learn in a rural school, embarks on a project that seeks to uncover what was hidden in the past by motivating her students to become involved and interested in their own history.
Wingate does her research well and the inclusion of real newspaper ads for locating displaced loved ones was a compelling primary source that bestowed an authenticity and poignancy to the loss and injustice of this history.
In that regard Wingate brings to light a painful past that is heart-breaking but at the same time illuminates human survival in her characters that is heart-mending. Wingate’s novels are easy to read and easy to get swept up in, and although I enjoyed this book and am glad I’ve read it, after a while the book began to feel overlong, and less enjoyable than the other books of hers that I’ve read.
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