“Lost and Found” Offers a Touch of Magic
A Review by Lisa Timpf
It’s hard to restart your life at age sixty-two. But that’s exactly what Barbara Baker, protagonist of Jane Glatt’s paranormal cozy Lost and Found, is forced to do after her husband Richard’s embezzlement schemes come to the attention of the police.
Barb is angry at herself for not recognizing what Richard was up to. Why, she asks herself, did she just go along with Richard’s insistence that he control all of their finances? Why was she so trusting?
In retrospect, Barb can see how it would be hard for people to believe that she didn’t know. Neighbours and friends, many of whom had been targeted by Richard’s shenanigans, have shunned Barb, thinking she must have been in on it, and her sons Rick and Kyle refuse to return her calls. Richard has skipped the country, leaving Barb to face the music. Only Barb’s long-time friend Kat Henderson believes in her innocence. Kat offers Barb a place to live until she gets her life together.
Left with little money and no paid work experience, and evicted from the Rosedale, Toronto mansion she’d shared with Richard, Barb moves to Hamilton with Kat, who makes hand-crafted custom jewelry. Though she’s never worked outside the home, Barb has a talent for gift-wrapping, a skill she put to use at many charity events in the past. She decides to start a gift-wrapping business and participates in a Christmas craft fair with Kat.
Barb calls her business “Wrap-It-Up Magic,” and she demonstrates a flair for providing the perfect wrapping job, particularly when she knows a bit about the gift recipient. While working at the fair, Barb discovers that she has an additional, and unexpected, talent—a gift for finding missing items, people, and pets. Trouble never seems far in the rearview for Barb, and even her new-found talent garners undesired publicity related to her past.
Lost and Found follows Barb’s adventures as she struggles to master her mysterious, magical abilities while trying to forge a new life, with Kat and her daughter Mitch serving as allies. Glatt’s novel was an entertaining read. It was refreshing to encounter a book featuring an older protagonist. Barb is a likeable lead character, and her situation is easy to empathize with.
Glatt has a knack for piquing reader interest by raising questions: Will Barb be able to get back on her feet? Will she reconcile with her sons, and if so, how? Will she be able to clear her name? What’s going on with Barb’s mysterious talent? The tension raised by these questions, and the empathy created for Barb’s plight, kept me reading, and I finished the book in two sittings.
Lost and Found is dedicated to “everyone who has ever had to start over.” I’m hoping Glatt follows up with more stories in the Wrap-It-Up Magic universe. I’d love to hear what else is in store for Barb and her friends.
About the Author
Jane Glatt loves that along with creating original worlds, writing fantasy allows her to indulge her curiosity about an eclectic group of subjects.
About the Reviewer
Lisa Timpf is a retired HR and communications professional who lives in Simcoe, Ontario. Her poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and book reviews have appeared in New Myths, Star*Line, The Future Fire, and other venues. Lisa’s speculative haibun collection, In Days to Come, is available from Hiraeth Publishing. You can find out more about Lisa’s writing and artwork at http://lisatimpf.blogspot.com/
Book Details
Publisher : Tyche Books (Nov. 26 2024)
Language : English
Paperback : 150 pages
ISBN-10 : 1989407765
ISBN-13 : 978-1989407769
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