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A Novel
by Hayley Gelfuso
For fans of The Ministry of Time and The Midnight Library, a sweeping, unforgettable novel moving from pre-WWII Germany to Cold War-era America to the mysterious time space, a library filled with books containing the memories of those who bore witness to history.
Nuremberg, 1938: On the night of Kristallnacht, eleven-year-old Lisavet Levy is hidden by her father from approaching forces in a mysterious place called the time space, a library where all the memories of the past are stored inside of books. When her father doesn't return for her, she becomes trapped, spending her adolescence walking through the memories of those who lived before. When she discovers that living timekeepers are entering the time space to destroy memories and maintain their preferred version of history, Lisavet sets about trying to salvage the past, creating her own book of lost memories. Until one day in 1949, when she meets an American timekeeper named Ernest Duquesne, who is intent on keeping her from her task. What ensues sets her on a course to change history and the time space itself forever.
Boston, 1965: Amelia Duquesne is mourning the death of her uncle and guardian, Ernest, when she's approached by Moira, the enigmatic head of the CIA's highly secretive Temporal Reconnaissance Program. Moira tells her about the existence of the time space—accessed only by specially designed watches whose intricate mechanisms have been lost to time—and enlists her help in recovering a strange book her uncle had once sought. But Amelia quickly realizes that the past—and the truth—are not as straightforward as Moira would like her to believe.
A sweeping, cinematic love story, this feat of imagination explores memory, time, and the lengths we will go to in order to protect the existence of those we love.
"[An] engrossing debut....Gelfuso seamlessly blends elements of romance and fantasy into the twisty quest narrative, and packs excitement into every page. It's a delight." —Publishers Weekly
"Book clubs, fans of Kaliane Bradley's The Ministry of Time (2024), and readers who enjoy books about magical libraries will find much to enjoy and discuss in this intriguing novel." —Booklist
"There's a version of me, somewhere in another timeline, who never read The Book of Lost Hours, and I feel sorry for them. Hayley Gelfuso has written the kind of novel that doesn't just bend time—it stops it, folds it, and tucks a love letter inside. You don't read this book so much as vanish into it, and when you return, your heart is not the same as when you left. An astounding debut!" —Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
"A meditation on time, memory, and history, encased in a heart-pounding, cold-war spy thriller, wound tight around a sweeping story of love, family, and fate, The Book of Lost Hours performs actual magic—time itself stops as it draws you in. An undeniable debut by a glittering new talent." —Daria Lavelle, author of Aftertaste
This information about The Book of Lost Hours was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Hayley Gelfuso is an author and poet who works in the environmental nonprofit sector. As a writer, she is drawn to stories of the wild and wonderful that are rooted in real world history and science. Her poetry about her experiences working in the conservation field has been published in the Plumwood Mountain Journal. She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband.
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