Dear reader,

For those of us who grew up in small and sleepy towns where nothing ever happened, books were our ticket to the universe. Narnia? King Arthur’s court? Mars? I visited them all and was home in time for dinner. For so many of us, these weren’t pleasure trips but flights to safety. People who survived rough, tough, or lonely childhoods

will tell you that books were often their only friends, their only way to escape to somewhere better, somewhere they knew they belonged.

The Lost Story is a grown-up fairy tale about kids just like that and the compassionate open-hearted adults they become. And if you ever wanted to live inside your favorite book, The Lost Story is also for you.

Welcome home!

Meg Shaffer