‘Lost and Found’: Debut novel destined to be a classic

When choosing ideal traveling companions for a raucous cross-country adventure, most of us wouldn't choose a 7-year-old girl whose father had recently died. Or a crotchety 82-year-old woman. Certainly not a mannequin with a missing leg.

But this is the crew in Australian author Brooke Davis' hilarious and heartfelt debut novel, 'Lost and Found” - these three plus Karl, an 87 year old with a penchant for vandalism. This is a novel that will not only make you reconsider your ideal traveling companions, but also your thoughts on death, polite conversation, and how to coexist with grief. It is a joyful, remarkable, intelligent read.

Millie is the young girl at the heart of the story. After the death of her father, her grief-stricken mother takes her to a department store and tells her to wait by the 'Ginormous Women's Underwear.” She then turns around and never returns. Millie's struggle to find her mother and understand death sets the other characters in motion (yes, even the mannequin), on a memorable journey across Australia.

There is so much to love about this book. Throughout this adventure Davis reminds us that the very young and the very old often chart the same course, as Millie and her elderly companions are given little autonomy, are talked down to, and are often simply ignored. Before breaking out of the nursing home Karl eats his daily portion of mashed peas and thinks: 'I never do what I want to do.”

Additionally, all of the travelers (except the mannequin) have lost someone they love, and are struggling to learn to live with their grief. In the addendum, Davis explains that in writing Lost and Found she ended up creating a way for people to talk about grief. 'It seems we want to speak about grief, but we don't know how ….In writing this novel, I've come to realize how speakable grief really is.”

A joyous novel that addresses the subjects of death and grief with the wit, grace, and fast pace of a classic comedy. 'Lost and Found” - and author Brooke Davis, for that matter - are destined to become classics.