Lost Boy Found
New York Times Bestseller List, March 2020
Lost Boy Found is the US/Canada edition of Half Moon Lake
On a summer’s day in Louisiana, 1913, Sonny Davenport wanders away from his family’s vacation home at Half Moon Lake and doesn’t come back.
The boy’s mysterious disappearance makes front-page news in his home town of Opelousas. John Henry and Mary Davenport are wealthy and influential and will do anything to find their child. They search for Sonny across the state and throughout the South. After years of crushing disappointments following hope, he is found with a peddler in Alabama. But the Davenports’ joy at finding their son is cut short when another woman, unwed domestic worker Grace Mill, claims the boy is hers.
As the two mothers fight to claim the child, people choose sides, testing loyalties, the notion of truth, and the meaning of the word family.
Lost Boy Found is a work of fiction. There is, however, a true story that inspired the novel – that of American boy Bobby Dunbar. Reporter Tal McThenia and Margaret Dunbar Cutright tell that fascinating tale in A Case for Solomon: Bobby Dunbar and the Kidnapping that Haunted a Nation (Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc, 2012).
“A terrific premise, which becomes more than just a page-turning story; this is a complex and thought-provoking tale of the lengths we go to in order to save those close to us — and to save ourselves. I was gripped throughout.” NATASHA LESTER, The Paris Orphan
“An evocative, unputdownable story about every parent’s worst nightmare — losing a child. With a deft hand, Alexander introduces us to a cast of flawed, fascinating characters, then leads us through the story, making us rage in one line and breaking our hearts in the next. Many times I wanted to step into the pages of this book to put things right—a sure sign of a compelling read. I highly recommend this novel.” SALLY HEPWORTH, The Mother-in-Law
“This is why we read novels — to come across a story such as Kirsten Alexander’s Half Moon Lake. Alexander’s tale of a young boy gone missing in rural Louisiana in 1913 is written in calm and fluent prose from beginning to end, yet at the same time the narrative drama remains intense throughout. The search for the missing boy argues that love and longing can lead to corruption of the soul, without any evil intent. In it’s craft and psychological subtlety, Alexander’s story comes close to a masterpiece.” ROBERT HILLMAN, The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted
“A compelling tale, full of wonderfully drawn characters and richly evoked locations, with a wrenching story at its heart. This book defies categorisation. Elements of mystery, true crime, family drama and social commentary are woven together seamlessly. Half Moon Lake should be read and re-read — devour it for the engrossing story, and return to it for the lyrical language.” MEG KENEALLY, Fled
Published by:
Grand Central/Hachette (US & Canada, 2020)
Available from:
Booktopia
Lost Boy Found on Spotify
Lost Boy Found is set in 1913-1916. It was a time of incredible social, cultural and technological change — women campaigned for the right to vote, Jim Crow laws were in force, the First World War began; stainless steel, crossword puzzles, bras and gas masks were invented; every art form was radically reconsidered. The music embodied much of this dynamic time. This was the era of ragtime, dixieland, classical music like no one had heard it before (there were riots when Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring was first performed in Paris), the earliest jazz, and wartime songs. So here’s a playlist to accompany Lost Boy Found, from America's South and beyond.
Listen to the Lost Boy Found playlist here.
Media & Events
Good Housekeeping Magazine, 7 April 2020
Part historical fiction, part suspenseful thriller, this one explores the role of social class in justice, and will make you hug your own little ones extra tight.
New York Times Bestseller list, March 2020
Lost Boy Found entered the bestseller list at number 12!
Crime Reads article, 18 March 2020
’Lindy Chamberlain, Kate McCann and the Myth of the Bad Mother’
Crime Reads, March’s Best Debut Novels, 17 March 2020
Entropy Magazine: Quarantine Reading, 13 March 2020
Costco magazine article, March 2020
Pennie’s pick for the best monthly read.
Amazon Book Review magazine Omnivoracious, 5 March 2020
’With a bound-in reading group guide, this beautifully written historical is perfect for book clubs.’
Paperback Paris review, 12 February 2020
Alexander tells an engrossing story of the madness the loss of a child can bring. Yet, deeply embedded within it is the true theme of the story: power and money talk.
Lost Boy Found is absolutely unputdownable. Alexander crawls under the skin of each character with ease. She shows us the world from the eyes of the most privileged as well as from the less fortunate. With patience and a particular talent for squeezing raw truth out of every scene, she develops the story as if it were entirely her own, all the while still working with material based on the real-life story.
If you love a good thriller that doesn’t just give you twists for the sake of it, that pulls at your heartstrings in every possible direction, that will have you screaming obscenities at the characters even as you find your calm long enough to keep reading, then Lost Boy Found is a must – a book that I promise has no reason to wait around sitting on a TBR pile.
Strand Magazine article, 20 April 2020
Babes in the Woods: Australia and the US share a fascination with stories about children lost in the woods…
The Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2020, Jan 2020
Crime Reads (part of LitHub) included Lost Boy Found in their list of crime books to look out for in 2020.