BOOK REVIEW: LOST FOR WORDS by STEPHANIE BUTLAND.

OverviewLost for Words by Stephanie Butland is every book lover’s delight. It tells the story of a young lady with a traumatic past who found refuge in a bookshop and seemingly left her past behind to live a quiet life in this new world. However, it seems she cannot run because just when things begin to get perfect, she is confronted with the scary evidence that someone around her knows her past.

It is a compelling read that treats deep issues such as domestic violence, mental health, and foster care — although the scenes are not exactly graphic.

SummaryLoveday Cardew has been in love with books since early on in her childhood when her father was still that dad that left for work in a helicopter and her mother still took her on regular visits to the bookshop. After a tragic incident that led to the death of her father, she is separated from her mother and put in foster care. At fifteen, during a school trip, she almost gets away with taking a book from a bookshop without paying in full. She has to work for Archie, the bookshop owner, for the afternoon to cover for it. This becomes her refuge and she eventually leaves home to settle in York and work at the bookshop. 10 years down the line, she has formed a close bond with Archie and Lost for Words bookshop is the only home she knows.

Loveday’s past made her withdraw into herself. She’d rather have books than people any day. In fact, she has the first lines from her favourite books tattooed on her skin. She says:

“𝙰𝚕𝚜𝚘, 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑. 𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚕, 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚔𝚊𝚢. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚊 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚗.”

This has made her self-sufficient as she does not do well in social situations. Her larger-than-life boss, Archie, is her favourite person, and he seems to understand this closed-off young lady — his straywaif.

“𝙰𝚛𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝙸 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚢 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚡𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚏𝚊𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚛𝚎𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚍.”

Loveday has tried to give love a chance but she is lucky to leave before she finds herself in a situation similar to her mother’s.

She has settled back into her single life when she begins to get deliveries of the books they had owned when she was a child. At first she believes it is all a coincidence until she cannot lie to herself anymore. Someone knows about her past and they want her to know that.

Loveday gives love a second chance when she meets Nathan, our gentleman who is a magician by day and poet by night. He helps her gain more confidence by putting herself out there, but when she is threatened with a secret, she withdraws. She accepts that it all seemed too good to be true anyway.

Thoughts
The characters are well-developed. You get to see Loveday’s crispness and sarcasm, but inasmuch as it is not the easiest thing to endear her to you, you get to fall in love with her eventually. Her foster care experience made her unaccepting of love. She believed that the people put in charge of her were paid to care for her or that was simply their job, so that was why they did. They did not genuinely love her; they pitied her. Her foster mother, Annabel, pitied her. This also affected her relationships because she would not reveal her past to Nathan with the belief that if he knew she would not be able to tell if he loved her or pitied her.

To be honest, Loveday is not my favourite character; Archie is. It is how he cares for her for me! And he is such an interesting person — dramatic and bubbly. He is the type that lights up anywhere he goes. I found him absolutely enchanting! Who knew there was more to his story with Loveday?

The book alternates between different time frames in Loveday’s life and divides them into chapters — the present which is entitled Poetry, the past which is entitled Crime, and a more recent past which is entitled History. These give us a glimpse of the things Loveday has experienced and brings us back to her present life. Crime takes us back to her childhood, and History explains her relationship with Rob and what transpired between them. It made for easier reading than going back and forth within the chapters.

Also, being a book about a book lover, other book lovers, and a bookshop, there are so many beautiful comments about books scattered in the story. It’s a delight really.

I’d give it 4 ⭐️

Here’s something for the book lovers!

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_{All images are mine.}